Kingdom Hearts: Dual Destinies
by AuraofOblivion
Summary: Set after KH3. As the darkness rises in stronger numbers than before, Sora encounters a girl who believes in dreams and has also lost her memory in Traverse Town following his world's destruction. With the power of the Keyblade in both their hands, Sora and Luna take to protecting the worlds while finding Luna's home. But is it ever that simple?
1. The Girl Who Believes in Dreams

So this is my first fic here on , and what a start it is. I would have started with something smaller but the idea came to my head one day and I just had to start planning. This will take a while and school isn't likely to make this any faster so grab onto your belts folks, and enjoy it.

I should tell you that while this does take place after Kingdom Hearts 3, Dream Drop Distance is for the most part ignored since I did plan this before that came out. There may be a few elements taken from it but for the most part, this was written with me guessing what would happen during Kingdom Hearts 3. For now though, I'll shut my mouth and let you enjoy the first chapter.

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Chapter 1

The Girl Who Believes In Dreams

Heavy panting was heard as the night engulfed the town of Radiant Garden. The roads were completely deserted except for the two figures running through the town. The deep breaths both were making seemed to express fear and if it wasn't obvious from that then it would have been obvious from the look in their eyes or even the sweat pouring down their faces. While it seemed the figures both had a feminine like quality to them, their faces were obscured with hoods attached to brown cloaks draping over their bodies well enough to help identify their girlish physiques. Moving through the borough quickly, the two glimpsed back every so often to check on something or someone. It was very unusual to find people out at this time of night so whatever was following them was anything but normal.

"This way." The first girl whispered to her partner. The other girl nodded without hesitation, her cloak slightly above head level revealing her sky blue eyes. She tried to restrain the tears trying to flow down her cheek however clearly wasn't successful at doing so. Her friend had done it again. Being the leader of the two she maintained a steady composure and was brave through to the end. She would have chuckled at that moment had the two not been faced with their current predicament. The first girl, one of taller stature was easily able to climb over a tank brimming with liquid. The second girl however, being smaller needed the assistance of the first girl to get across. Once across, the girls continued their venture across the town to get away from...it. They didn't even know what it was. All it took for them to run was hearing that horrible growling sound and the rattling of chains. Whatever it was, the two figures were not trained in the field of combat and could only hope to run. An explosion was heard behind them no doubt from the tank they had jumped over. It was getting closer. The two also suspected that most of Radiant Garden would have woken up from that but there was no time to check. Heavy footsteps and breathing could be heard nearing closer to the pair.

The second girl had decided to take the lead instead of the first as a sort of way to prove that she too could do something by dragging the girl along with her into what appeared to be a narrow alley way. As they moved forward it seemed that the pathway became even narrower. At this point, the two were both wondering how exactly big this beast was. Could it fit through this narrow alleyway? Soon enough the narrowing path finished and the two girls emerged out at wide area... a dead end. The two girls turned back facing the way they came from. If there was a time to try and have a look at what the monster was like, it was now. Noticing a ladder attached to a building to the right, the second girl helped point this out to the first.

"I can't run in this properly, I'm taking this off," The first girl said rather quietly and unzipped the cloak which pressed tightly against her body. Removing it revealed a girl with short black hair which reached her shoulders and honey brown eyes. Her clothes consisting of a red striped athletic jacket with a green shirt underneath designed with floral patterns. Underneath her skirt were short black leggings which reached past her skirt to her knees, "Aren't you hot in that 'Sea Salt'?"

The girl now identified as 'Sea Salt' huffed in mock embarrassment, "I told you not to call me Sea Salt anymore. I'm 15 now and besides, I can't help it if it's my favourite flavour." Regardless, she also took off her cloak revealing a rather girlish design in comparison to her friend. She had longer flowing brown hair in comparison to the other girl with light blue eyes. What she was wearing was rather simple: a white t-shirt with blazing blue fire patterns trailing across it. Her skirt resembled that of a school girl's skirt with it barely reaching to her knees.

The second girl laughed knowing the other girl was only joking. While it wasn't exactly the time to be making such jokes, she felt that she had to get it out of the way just in case it was her last... no, she didn't want to think of such things. The two of them would get through this thing together, whatever this thing was anyway. After she had finished laughing the two stayed silent for quite a while, listening for any sort of indication as to where the beast currently was. Tension increased and they both felt fear not just within themselves but the atmosphere as well. The cold chill of the temperature tonight didn't help either.

'Sea Salt' was the first to share both of their thoughts, "I don't hear anything."

Of course this could only either be a good thing, or a very bad one.

Hoping for the former but not wanting to let her guard down at the same time, Sea Salt poked the second girl lightly and indicated to follow her to the ladder with her head. Unfortunately, good luck was not on their side as a rather unusual cold chill swept through the air and a white wisp of smoke flew through the two girls sending their bodies the shivers. The wisp turned into the monster and for the first time the two managed to get a good look at it. With its ferocious breathing and rattling chains across its neck, a beast similar to that of rhino stumped forward, the only difference that made it unique from a rhino was its rather piercing yellow eyes as well as the symbol on its forehead. Both had read up on the enemies that stalk the streets of Radiant Garden, it was common knowledge to know it for the citizens of the town never knew when they would come face to face with them. They were of course the Heartless and the Nobodies, each one identified uniquely by their respective symbols. Some people even knew about the further types of Heartless such as the pureblood and the artificial ones created by the ex-leader of Radiant Garden, Ansem. However, the symbol that was on this rhino's forehead, looked nothing like either a Heartless or a Nobody.

Before either of the girls could study the emblem in detail, an incredible force came into contact with 'Sea Salt' knocking her off her feet and sending her flying. Whatever this thing was, it was fast. The second girl called out her name. How did this even happen? Looking at the size of the monster in front of her, it should have been impossible for it to have followed them and yet it did unless...The white wisp.

_Is it possible that the beast is able transport with the use of the white wisp? _The first girl thought as she stood paralyzed in fear. Why was she trying to study the monster at a time like this? She willed herself to move, still unable to believe that this was happening, but it was. She had to be there for her friend, like she always has been. With the rhino turning its attention to her and charging, the girl finally gained the courage and at the last few moments managed to roll out of the way. She wasn't thinking clearly, so many things were rushing through her head but one dominant thought in her mind right now was screaming at her loud and clear, she had to protect her friend. Now that the rhino's attention was on her, she started her ascent up the ladder in hopes that she could lure it or maybe even find some way to defeat the beast on the roof. While she didn't know how stable it was, it was better than nothing. 'Sea Salt' managed to just barely get up clutching at her ribs. Looking at where her friend once stood she realised she had to do something, call someone. Looking up to the ladder at her friend climbing, 'Sea Salt' huffed at the thought of her friend once again trying to take the lead to protect everyone. Noticing a pebble near her feet, she crouched low and scooped it up with the hand which was not clutching her rib. Throwing it at the monster, she looked in disappointment as the rhino merely flinched before ramming into the ladder. The impact shook the ladder for several seconds, flinging the first girl's feet of the ladder in the process. She held on to the ladder with her hands tightly as she swung for a moment and then stopped, her feet dangling in the air. She was quite high now and it would pretty much mean her death if she were to let go of the ladder at any time. Mustering up her courage, the girl swung back on to the ladder and kept climbing. Meanwhile, down below 'Sea Salt' took her opportunity and did the only thing she could think of doing. Jumping on the back of the rhino while its attention was on her friend, 'Sea Salt' tugged at its ears. The rhino wailed in protest and anger trying to fling of the already frightened girl by running around the alley. Hearing the pounding stomps of the beast, the girl climbing the ladder looked down behind her to see her friend on its back.

"What are you doing?" She yelled back at the brunette haired girl who was desperately trying to cling on for dear life. At one point she contemplated jumping off the ladder and pulling her friend of the rhino however it would pretty much be suicide at this height.

"I'm not abandoning you!" She heard Sea Salt yell at the top of her voice and once again, she had to admire her friend's courage. Soon she continued her climb, finding a new resolve to draw this beast away from her friend. Meanwhile down below, the rhino had successfully knocked 'Sea Salt' off his back sending her crashing in to a wall. Dizziness took over at the impact of the blow to her head and 'Sea Salt' barely managed to stand up again before tripping over her own feet. Once again, she was at the mercy of this...thing. It was impossible to say what it was and at this point she didn't want to know. Her head ached from the throbbing and she only wished it to stop.

_Just end it._ She thought while closing her eyes wanting an end to it.

_Take me, just don't hurt her. _

At that moment, she heard an ear-piercing, chilling scream. A girl's scream! The next thing she heard was an explosion from nearby. 'Sea Salt' opened her eyes to find the rhino moaning in pain and beside it, her friend, laying on the ground next to her barely conscious with a weapon lying next to her. Some sort of key though it was rather big to be considered one you would use to open something.

"Astra! Astra!" 'Sea Salt' screamed at her friend, tears in her eyes as she moved closer to the immobile body.

Astra simply looked up smiling at her friend, "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. Your my best friend and-"

"Don't talk like that," 'Sea Salt' said interrupting her friend, "we can both make it out of this- I'll make sure of it."

Astra simply smiled before pointing above 'Sea Salt', "Somehow, I don't think he agrees."

Looking up, 'Sea Salt' spotted the problem immediately. Where Astra had once stood on top of the rooftop after she had finished climbing the ladder was a figure in a cloak darker than their own with zippers attached to it and the hood obscuring the figure's face.

"Wait, did he..." She didn't want to finish the sentence. Her anger was apparent at this point and it was boiling.

"Forget him, he did you a favour. You can make it out of this, believe in you dreams and follow them. Now run!" Astra replied.

"But-"

"Not buts, please... for me. Just...run Luna." Her voice trailed off as all trace of life which had remained from her friend was now lost. The tears were now flowing from her eyes clouding her view and then she saw it again. The key in front of her and as if she was drawn through some kind of emotional attachment, she reached out and-

* * *

"Oww," Luna said waking up from several poundings on her head. It took her a moment but her view soon came into focus to find an entirely different place to where she had been before, "I was dreaming."

"Well little lady, now's not the time to be dreaming especially in an alleyway." She heard a voice for somewhere beside her. Turning beside her she saw what appeared to be a little duck wearing a blue cap and blue shirt to match.

"Are you sure I'm not dreaming right now?" Luna asked a little confused. What a weird dream that was. She was in it and she was running from something along with a person she had never met but had called her friend in the dream and now she was here? In a place which she had never been let alone knew about. Looking at the lamps scattered across the alleyway helping to light the alley she tried to recall briefly what had happened in the dream.

"Hey are you even listening?" The duck shouted at her clearly annoyed.

This seemed to snap Luna out of her dazed state, "Oh sorry, what were you saying?"

"I said I sure hope this isn't a dream or I'd be wondering why you would have dreamt up me working in an item shop."

Luna looked at the duck surprised that he worked in an item shop, especially considering how young he looked and sounded as well as the fact that he was indeed a duck. She admitted that she hadn't really seen many talking ducks before if any.

"I don't think you working in the item shop is the problem." Luna replied smiling more- she had to admit that the duck was rather cute.

"You might want to get up there ma'am. The cold floor is no place for someone to sleep." The duck said jumping up and down as if to say 'Move it'. Luna stood up rather shakily at first but soon maintained stabilization, "Thank you for your help uh..."

"Dewey Duck, pleasure to meet ya." The duck said doing a rather generous bow.

"Ah, thank you Dewey, it's a pleasure to meet you too," Luna smiled shaking hands with the tiny duck, "I'm Luna. Okay, so where am I?"

"You're Traverse Town, dontcha know?" The duck asked. It was obvious that he was in complete disbelief that she didn't even know the town and the look of confusion on her face when he mentioned the name of the town pretty much confirmed it.

"You're from another world aren't ya!" He exclaimed clicking his fingers as if it was a sudden realization. It was more of a statement than a question.

"Uh, is that bad or something?" Luna said feeling rather uneasy. Was she from another world? Which one? She couldn't remember anything except her name and a few sketchy details, and those came from the dream. Why couldn't she remember?

As she looked down at the star filled night sky in thought, Dewey sighed once again after finishing his sentence and then finding out that she wasn't paying attention, "There she goes again."


	2. A Time of Reflection

Here's yet another chapter but last time I forgot to say I appreciate all types of criticism be they good or bad. It definitely helps me with becoming a better writer so thank you. Also as for my review for 3D, let's just say I can't imagine another game in the series without flowmotion. Also Riku pretty much has become one of the best characters in the series. Don't get me started on Lea...

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Chapter 2

A Time of Reflection

As Sora came out through the long tunnel which connected to the secret cave, he was filled with memories as he looked at the various drawings on the wall. Somehow, whenever he came to this cave he always felt connected to the drawings and felt as if he was looking at them for the first time. In a way it did make sense as this was where it all started, his and Kairi's friendship, and he made sure to treasure that memory deep down so that if he had succumbed to the darkness while on his mission to rescue Aqua and the others, he could always have a memory to help him escape from that darkness. The memory he had chosen was pretty much this picture right here. As he moved his hands over the drawing in chalk he smiled. Looking at it, it was fairly obvious that Kairi was the much better drawing and while it wasn't like both of their art could be considered of an expert level, hers was at least better than the messier version of Kairi Sora had drawn when he was a kid. He could of course make the excuse that he was a kid at the time but that didn't help when his level of drawing was pretty much the same as it was then. As Kairi had said on their way to school, "No art classes can help you become a better drawer Sora." Of course his excuse would then be, "I don't pay attention is class anyway." In a rather snide retort, though both of them knew he was just joking around anyway.

Grinning at the thought, he traced lightly with his finger down the chalk version of Kairi towards the Paopu fruit. It had been six months since Master Xehanort had been defeated and ever since Sora had continued life normally as he did before the appearance of the Mickey's letter after defeating the Organization. Ventus, Aqua and Terra had gone off on their own journey after glad to see the realm of light once again after so long, especially Terra and Aqua. Ventus had claimed that he had seen the worlds through both Sora and Roxas although he then said that he wished to be with his friends when he they saw all the things that had changed in eleven years. Roxas and Namine were also finally free along with Xion and Lea to spend time together. Leaving Sora, Roxas had taken off with the fiery red head and the rather petite girl to Twilight Town, where they would probably be spending time with Hayner's group if Sora had to guess. Namine had also claimed she wanted to return but to the Mansion first, possibly to collect her drawings.

"Sora!"

Turning around, Sora heard one of his friends Tidus calling out to him from outside the entrance. Going back through the rather cramped hole which he had to now crouch slightly to get through, he emerged out to a rather beautiful ocean in front of him. He had to admit it was rather hot today, but then again it wasn't unusual for this time of year. Just yesterday had it been raining quite a lot and already the island looked as if it hadn't been raining.

"What's up Tidus?" Sora asked walking away from the cave with Tidus following in his steps. Surprisingly the only people who had ever been in the secret cave were Sora, Riku and Kairi. Everyone else had ever mentioned that they would do it but never got to it or in Selphie's case was just plain right too scared to even attempt it. Regardless of the many times the trio of Tidus, Wakka and Selphie had seen Sora walk out from the secret cave they had not really asked much about it apart from Selphie, who Sora and Riku always teased her about her silly conspiracy theories of evil monsters dwelling in the cave from another dimension. When Riku had mentioned the brown door that resided in the cave, the scared Selphie screeched saying that it supported the other dimension theory (just one of many) which added to the humour.

"Riku's calling- he's on that small island." Tidus said. He didn't have to point for Sora to know what he already meant. Of course he was referring to the island with the Paopu tree. Waving Tidus off, Sora made his way across the bridge to the small island where Riku was sitting calmly on the Paopu tree staring at the sea before him. Hopping on to the tree next to him, Sora took a while to admire the scenery and reflect on his entire journey and the many friends he'd made. Apart from the secret place, this was the over place he really felt he could connect with his journey so far.

"Sora, you took your time." Riku started while still looking at the sea.

"Hey, Tidus didn't tell me until now." Sora defended although he didn't expect Tidus to have known he would have been in the cave.

"Well I'm sure he didn't know you were in the cave," Riku spoke pretty much copying aloud what Sora had been thinking, "anyway, want to spar? I feel kind of rusty."

"Why didn't you ask Tidus or Wakka?"

"Really Sora?" Riku really didn't need to say more than that.

"You have a point," Sora said laughing at the idea of Tidus and Wakka wielding giant keys while fighting Riku, "sure, why not? We need to be ready for anything." Sora jumped off the tree and summoned his Keyblade. It was hard to believe that he hadn't used his wooden sword since the day before he had received the Keyblade. It now seemed pretty much impossible to think of reverting back to the sword at this point after so many battles. Riku jumped off the tree to and summoned the way to dawn Keyblade.

"Okay then, let's begin." Riku said running, or more like gliding rather quickly towards Sora. His feet had left the grand and his Keyblade was positioned in a stabbing motion. Sora easily rolled out of the way but then hit one of the trees in the process.

"Come on Sora, I thought you were better than that." Riku taunted laughing at the brunette who was currently in the process of getting up.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm a lot better than that." Sora said shooting three Firaga blasts at Riku who easily managed to guard against every one of them. At this pointed Sora glided in delivering a series of blows to Riku who managed block each one. Jumping back, Riku attacked the tree next to Sora sending a coconut flying from the tree and hitting Sora's head.

"Ouch, that hurt Riku." Sora said scratching his head.

"It's called using your head, you should try it Sora. I don't mean using your head to attract coconuts either." Riku grinned raising his blade towards Sora as if to mock him lowering his defence slightly. Sora took this as his chance and slide dashed into him. Riku having guessed what Sora would try to do easily slid behind him swiftly and then watched as Sora fell into the water below. Sora got up quickly shaking himself dry. It was pretty safe to say that this was fairly embarrassing and now Sora had had enough of Riku's tricks. Climbing back onto the island from the ladder, Sora readied his Keyblade and moved forward. He wouldn't try to pull of any techniques but would rather just attack and defend normally. He prioritised speed above all else striking at Riku from different places who either guarded or dodged the attack. Riku would occasionally hit back with his own strikes. At one point, the two blades clashed, each owner struggling for dominance. With enough strength Sora was able to knock Riku's Keyblade out of his hand with and upward strike. He and Riku both watched as the Keyblade fell into the water.

Satisfied with the conclusion of the fight, Sora dismissed his Keyblade and grinned putting his hand behind his head, "Well look who won Riku. It seems that your winning streak is finally over."

Surprisingly or at least to Sora, Riku shrugged the matter off, "Meh, I wasn't even trying. And you've already beaten me before, don't you remember?"

"That fight doesn't count," Sora said recalling when Riku had been possessed by Ansem, "and neither does the time before that one now that I think about it."

Riku smiled as his Keyblade appeared before him and then disappeared, "Just admit it. You just can't help but savour the moment every time you beat me."

Sora pretended to think about it for a second before saying, "Hmm, well...you're probably right." They both laughed. Right now it seemed as if all the Xehanort stuff had not even bothered them at all, like they didn't have a care in the world. While they knew it was possible that someone could take his place, Master Sora and Master Riku were ready to defend the worlds if necessary, although they both knew they had a lot more to learn before they could surpass Aqua or Terra in terms of skill.

Once again sitting at the tree, they watched in silence as the orange glow the sun reflected off the water. The day had gone by pretty quickly and before they knew it, it was now sunset. Sora closed his eyes listening to the sounds of the waves and the cries of the seagulls. Riku was probably doing the same thing, Sora thought as he just enjoyed the day for all the time that was left before night.

Then Riku broke the silence, "Sora, do you think there are other Keyblade Wielders out there? I mean apart from the ones we already know."

Sora opened his eyes at the question perplexed at why Riku would be asking this now, "Sure, there might be but why do you ask?"

"It's just... if there ever is another crisis. If someone were to carry on Xehanort's work, we would need to be ready. But, if he's-"

Here Sora had to interrupt, "I'm sorry Riku but that's enough. If another person comes along causing trouble we'll just knock him or her out of the park like Xehanort. What happens, happens."

"Yeah, you're right. When another person shows up, "we'll kick their butt" as you would say." Riku said chuckling at the quote.

Sora frowned, "I would never say such a lame thing as that."

"Is that right? 'Cause I'm sure I remember you saying something like that."

"Hmm, wait... nope, never happened."

"Sora! Riku!"

At that point Sora was glad that Kairi had interrupted as he turned around to see Kairi running across the bridge to meet them, he noticed she was holding something blue behind her back.

"Guess what I got us?" Kairi revealed what she had been hiding behind her back to be three sea salt ice creams.

"Awesome! Kairi where did you get them?" Sora asked with a rather giddy look of appreciation on his face.

"I made them at my house with Selphie. I had to keep them in a box just to carry them. Thankfully they haven't melted." Kairi replied passing one to each of the boys and keeping the last one to herself. The other two uttered their appreciation of thanks.

"So how was Selphie?" Riku asked as she sat down beside Sora.

"Oh come on, this again? There's nothing wrong with Selphie." Kairi folded her arms as if she was pretending to be disappointed in the two but in the end she couldn't fool anyone as a smile escaped her lips.

"Don't worry Kairi. We're just kidding around with 'Sefie'," Sora told her referring to her pet name which a boy who was in their high school seemed to like using to tease her, "she knows that as well. We're just having fun."

"Don't know what her obsession with trains is about though." Riku snickered.

"Well, someone's got to stand up for them," Kairi defended playing along and the three all laughed together, "So how does it taste?"

Riku having taken a bite of the Ice cream, smiled at Kairi, "It's definitely similar to the one in Twilight Town. Salty yet sweet. Good job Kairi."

Kairi gave a sigh of relief, "Oh thank goodness. When I had asked the shopkeeper in Twilight Town for the recipe I told him I would make it just like his. If it wasn't, I think I would have failed him."

"Well, you definitely haven't failed him. If we go back there you can tell him it was a success." Sora grinned as he took another bite.

After a minute of silence, Kairi finally spoke again, "You know, it's today so many years ago that I first arrived on these Islands."

It was indeed that day again, Sora had completely forgotten about it although he wouldn't plan on telling Kairi that. Every year on the same day they had a little celebration to commemorate the day Kairi had come to the islands and how they became friends. Kairi deserved it, after all none of this would have happened without her. Attempting to leave the islands, gaining the Keyblade, bonding even more with her and Riku. Even managing to get back to the islands after the defeat of Xemnas and the Organization was because of her. Sora and Riku were lucky to have her as a friend. Sora was actually glad that Ansem or Xehanort's Heartless had sent her to the Islands whether it seemed almost selfish of him to think it. Out of all the bad things to come from Xehanort, this had been the only good thing.

"I know. Thanks Kairi. For everything." Riku almost whispered looking at the red head.

"No, thank you guys. Sometimes I don't know what I'd do without you." Kairi said smiling back.

"Don't worry about it. The three of us... we'll always be together and don't you forget." Sora said pumping his fists in the air. The stick where the fully eaten Ice cream had used to be now rested on Sora's lap.

"Exactly. Connected through our hearts." Riku said, his Ice cream also pretty much finished leaving the stick which was being flipped around in his fingers. Kairi nodded as she finished up her own ice cream, glad she had two wonderful friends to share the moment with. If only it could last forever.

* * *

King Mickey paced backwards and forwards across his study at Disney Castle. On his table were several pens scattered across his table and bottles of ink placed on the left corner of his desk. In front of his chair was a piece of paper, currently blank. There was also a bottle next to the pots of ink ready for a letter to be put in to it. He had felt it, a tremendous force awakening a while ago. He had not been the only one as Master Yen Sid had also claimed he had felt it. It was an extremely powerful force, that which belonged to neither light nor darkness, yet you couldn't quite call it nothingness either.

-Flashback-

_"Master Yen Sid, I've felt a horrible presence."_ _He remembered telling his Master on his recent visit to his tower._

_"I see that I'm not the only one. I too have sensed it Mickey." Yen Sid replied closing his eyes and stroking his beard thoughtfully._

_Whatever it was, Mickey could only guess that it was bad. Currently, he was trying to figure out what to write to Sora and the others. While it wasn't within his right to assume that this force was necessarily bad, he just couldn't shake the feeling off._

_"Have you received any word from Master Aqua and the others yet?" Mickey asked in hopes that he would be meeting his friends again. To his disappointment, Yen Sid shook his head, "Then we need to warn them."_

_"Agreed, along with master Sora and Riku as well," Yen Sid added opening his eyes, "It is hard to discern what this threat exactly is, if it is even a threat at that."_

_"Well, why wouldn't it be? It seems like a strong enough force to warrant looking into and-"_

_"Yes, looking in to. We cannot come to any decisive conclusions until we at least look into this," Yen Sid said calmly. Mickey had to admit that even in the hardest of times, his master could remain composed- anyone would admit that if they knew the wizard, "unfortunately my apprentice, I cannot tell you much about this predicament. The stars tell me nothing, or at least nothing that is within my range of knowledge. Go forth Mickey and warn Sora and the others. Bring them here so that they can be filled in."_

-End Flashback-

If Mickey had to remember the look on Master Yen Sid's face at that time, it was a look of discomfort, something which rarely happened so as he paced across the floor, he realised that this had to be done quickly and stopped, "I got it!"

He walked back to his chair and dipped the pen in to the bottle of ink a few times before writing. Sitting in a corner of the room was his dog and pal, Pluto. Eyes trained on Mickey, he got up and moved over to the mouse to rest beside his chair.

"Ah, hey fella. I'll be with ya in a sec alright?" Mickey assured the dog who barked in sheer joy. Getting back to the piece of paper in front of him, Mickey began his letter:

_Dear Sora, Riku and Kairi_

_I'm sorry to say it but it looks like trouble may be brewin' once again. After all you guys have done for us, I'm extremely sorry for taking you away from your home but we may need ya again. I've sensed something recently, although I'm not exactly sure what it is, but it is a rather dangerous presence, that I'm sure off. Yen Sid has also felt it though he ain't able to discern it either. Could you do an old pal a favour and come with me, Donald and Goofy to his tower. There we will explain everything, I promise. We'll be there to pick ya up by midday the day after you receive this letter. _

_Once again, I'm sorry to take you away from your home but this is really troublin' us._

_Your pal, Mickey _

Satisfied with his rather short but simple letter, he stamped his logo onto it and laid his pen beside the table. Getting up and stretching he looked to Pluto, "We gotta get this mailed before we have some fun, up to the challenge?"

Pluto barked to signify a yes. Mickey placed the letter into the bottle and screwed a cork on to it. He handed the letter to Pluto who took it without question and ran for the exit of the study room. He then stopped just in time before bumping in to someone in front of him. Pluto then immediately growled and barked angrily. Mickey hearing this turned his attention from the ceiling to the man in a hooded cloak in front of him, an organization cloak. Jumping out of his chair, Mickey summoned his Star Seeker Keyblade while glaring at the cloaked figure who from what he could tell, appeared to be a man, "Who are you? How did you get in?"

The man said nothing. He just continued staring at the mouse and then he stretched his hand out in front of him. An erratic spark circled around his hand until it produced the very thing Mickey feared, "No, it can't be!"


	3. The Doors of Fate

Back again for another chapter and I should take my time to mention this is a trilogy mainly for the purpose of fleshing out the characters and story in the most satisfying way. I have up to chapter 7 done so you'll be seeing updates for most of this week. For now have fun with chapter 3 :)

Oh, also expect some UK English spelling. That is what I am after all.

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Chapter 3

The Doors of Fate

"Well I have to give him credit- this place is great for the Heartless to live in." Pete exclaimed as he inspected every inch of what was to be the new home of Maleficent. A castle shrouded in darkness from head to toe. What once was a majestic Kingdom ruled by those of fair trait had now become a soulless lifeless dominion- just the way Maleficent liked it.

"Indeed, it seems that you did some good in bringing him to me, for once." Maleficent sneered much to Pete's discomfort.

"Uh- anyway, shouldn't we go ahead and call the Heartless over here." Pete said trying to divert the topic away from him.

"You fool! Weren't you listening? The Heartless are naturally attracted to the darkness closest to light, we need not call them for they will come in due time by themselves, besides..." Her tone then softened. "While it may seem that this is only a castle and place where the Heartless can traverse between realms, it serves a much greater purpose."

At Maleficent's smile, Pete suddenly remembered the greater purpose of the castle, "Oh right, the factory."

Maleficent's smile became even wider at the mention of the word, "Exactly. Once it has been completed imagine the faces of the King and his stooges as Heartless flock to many worlds. Soon, the worlds will all be ours."

"And don't forget Kingdom Hearts itself too." Pete cheered.

"Why of course." Maleficent said petting her raven, Diablo, softly.

"But... are you sure we can trust this guy? We don't even know his name."

"That is none of my concern. As far as I can tell, he is interested in the same thing we are and if he were to betray us. Well... let's just say I can take Kingdom Hearts away from him more easily than him me," Maleficent stopped her stoking of her pet and then looked out of the window into the dark abyss that surrounded the castle, "as for his name. Perhaps you would like to ask him when he visits us again."

Pete stepped back shaking his hands in protest, "Uh, I don't think so. You can handle him."

"Coward," Maleficent whispered but still smiled, "I think I shall add my own personal touch of darkness in the meanwhile." She raised her staff into the air. With the green orb on the top of her staff glowing, the staff emitted a light through the ceiling. Looking out a window, a portal had opened above the castle and with it came multiple strikes of lightning. The darkening sky helped add to the ominousness of it all. With that the ground also darkened, the path to the castle covered in darkness. Another tap of her staff and thorns rose up from the deep chasm and surrounded the entire castle. Pete couldn't help but feel like he was in a completely different place from Maleficent as he watched her completely engrossed in what she was doing, seeming to ignore everything around her except her work. The raven, wanting to see more of the world in which they would now be living in, flew off Maleficent's shoulder and out of the window. Maleficent smiled proud of her work and then as if realising that Pete was now there, turned to him instantly, "Well, what are you waiting for? Bring me suitable candidates from other worlds."

* * *

Luna awoke once again but in a completely different place to where she had been previously. The last she could remember she had decided to lay her head down inside the hotel of Traverse Town after advice from the three ducks, Huey, Dewey and Louie telling her to do so. Now she awoke to what appeared to be nothingness, or at least as far as she could see. Looking down, a stain-glass pillar met her eye. As her vision traversed across the pillar of glass, she saw three people on the station. How did she know it was called a station? She shook her head and instead concentrated on the people on the glass. One was of her, eyes closed in a sort of resting pose. The other was the girl, the one in her dreams who she knew of as a friend and nothing more also in a sleeping state similar to her own image. The other was a boy who she did not know with spiky brown hair with an outfit which, she had to admit, was pretty cool. Like the other two images, he was also in a state of sleeping.

_**It will be soon time for you to wake up.**_

Luna looked all over searching for the source of the voice but to no avail. She took a step forward peering down into the black nothingness below her.

_**Do not falter for your heart will serve as your guide.**_

Luna took a step back and turned around. Now in front of her appeared three items in order of left to right. Walking over and examining each object, she looked up just in time to hear the voice make another speech.

_**A staff of knowledge and wisdom to carry you through the hardest of trials, or maybe a shield to protect the things which matter most to you, or perhaps a sword for a warrior, one who honours most what matters them and has a fighting heart. I wonder what you'll choose.**_

_I suppose I couldn't just take all of them?_ Luna thought as she considered each property of the item. It was obvious that the weapon she would pick would be a representation of her views or at least her desires for who she was or wanted to be. There was just one problem, how could she know what suited her best if she didn't even know much about herself?

_**Hard choice, isn't it? **_

Luna began to feel annoyed with the voice, it certainly wasn't helping make thing easier. They all seemed so good, but she really didn't understand a single thing that was different about them, was this her own confusion of herself showing?

_**Need help? Your heart is the answer as I've said before. Listen to it.**_

Luna closed her eyes and cleared her mind of the many annoyances she was thinking about. When she thought about it, they could all be used to protect someone. The problem was who she had to protect? She didn't know however she had a feeling it had something to do with the images on the station. If they could all be used to do the same thing though, why even think about choosing? Listen to her heart. She wanted to protect what mattered most to her. Then she realised. It wasn't just about friends, it was herself as well. She wanted to protect her beliefs and whatever it was that mattered to her most. She needed something to cast of the shadows and safeguard the light. To cast. Luna advanced over to the staff and picked it up.

_**The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. Is this the power you seek?**_

_Sounds great, _Luna joked to herself. Well she had followed her heart and it had leaded her down to this path. Now with that question asked by the voice she really wanted to re-think what she had chosen but in the end she knew that it wasn't as if she couldn't take another path later down the road. After all life was filled with many choices right? She only hoped that her decision didn't come back to bite her later. Squinting with her eyes, she nodded slowly.

_**Good. Your path is set. Your journey is about to begin, in which you will encounter many foes and tribulations. **_

Luna looked behind her and a small black creature appeared out of the stained glass platform. Its beady yellow eyes were rather haunting and as it moved its antennae twitched along with it.

_**But don't worry. You have the mightiest weapon of all.**_

Suddenly a giant Key appeared in her hands. The same Key which had appeared in her dream where she had been with the other girl. The Key was that of an ocean blue colour featuring intricate designs of silver and gold embedded into one another to create a pattern of what resembled fish bones in the middle. The top and attacking part of the Key was curved in a crescent shape and attached to it were multiple spikes upon each other, which appeared to be stars. As the stars came outwards from the Keyblade, the shape of each one was smaller than the last. Finally, the bottom part of the Key had the shape of a crown with the spikes coming out of the bottom and the handle in the middle for her to hold on to. This part was Aqua blue. The keychain attached to the bottom was a silver heart. Holding the Key towards the creature in front of her she could see that the reach of the weapon was average at best and while she didn't have much experience fighting, or none that she could remember anyway, she knew that she would need to get really close to the creatures in order to make sure she didn't miss.

Suddenly, the name of the weapon came into her mind. _Keyblade_.

Readying her weapon, she charged at the creature and disposed of it. Five more creatures soon appeared at the ground and advanced towards Luna. It was rather awkward, considering she had never fought before but it looked like she was starting to get the hang of it. Taking care of the last creature, the voice applauded Luna who was trying to regain her breath.

_**Very Good. Just remember you have a weapon whose light can shine through even the deepest darkness. And it's not your Keyblade. **_

_It's my heart, right? _Luna thought as the Keyblade disappeared from her hands all of a sudden. Finding that she couldn't call it back she sighed. Soon enough though she heard a sparkling sound. Turning around, she noticed a door had appeared on the over side of the platform. Moving closely to the door she looked around it. It didn't actually lead anywhere from the back. Walking back to the front, Luna grabbed the door knob and pulled. As soon as the door opened, an immense light blinded her eyes. Hesitating at first, she soon found that she had to force herself to move regardless if she didn't know where it would take her.

_You have got to be kidding me. _Luna frowned when she took her first step into yet another station similar the last one but with different images on the stain-glass platform. The boy from before was in the middle floating while sleeping but her image nor the other girl's image was there this time. Instead there were five other faces encased in circles surrounding Sora. A mouse, duck, dog, a boy with silver hair and a girl with red hair.

_**You can't go just yet...**_

Luna looked around trying to look for a way out. Of course there was none.

_**There is one more thing for you to know.**_

Luna looked down and noticed something rising out of the ground, it was the same creature as the one in her dream, the rhino. This one was different though. While it was in the shape of the rhino she had encountered, it was covered in a purplish black colour so the only thing that looked different from the rest was its yellow eyes.

_**As you get closer to the light, the darkness come nearer to you. **_

_**But don't be afraid, girl who believes in dreams.**_

_Believes in dreams? _Pondered Luna who was desperately trying to summon the Keyblade but could not. Where had she heard that before.

_**Follow your heart and dreams and you shall find me, friend.**_

Darkness rushed from the rhino and enveloped the terrified Luna who tried desperately to struggle free of its grasp. It was almost like choking, with her finding it extremely hard to breathe. She soon found that she was sinking through the platform and she could only see bits of what was the station, now obscured by the darkness surrounding her. It was as if she was swimming through the vast endless darkness that had taken her. Was she going to die like this?

_No_.She didn't want to go yet, she wanted to find out who she was and she wouldn't stop until she did find out. At this point a small light appeared in front of her. Deciding her fate, she set of, swimming towards the light. As she moved closer the warm glow welcomed and embraced her and she let it do so. She was only able to catch brief glimpses of a silhouette before the light gave way completely.

* * *

Kairi guarded against an attack from Riku with her Keyblade, Destiny's Embrace while Sora sat down on the dock with his hands behind his back resting. It was the start of a new day and Kairi had said she wanted to be up for more training. While she had used her Keyblade given to her by Riku in the moments leading up to the final battle against Xehanort, she still didn't have the experience that Sora and Riku had and so said she was determined to become stronger. Less than occasionally, Sora and Riku would spar with her from time to time just to see if she had improved on her skills as well as to give her a few pointers. Sora and Riku still had their concerns about their friend though. For one thing, Kairi was a princess of heart and who knew if someone else would try to open the door to darkness. That in itself sounded like the perfect reason to train Kairi but at the moment it was as if she was taking it a bit too seriously lately. There was no doubt in the two's minds that Kairi wanted to prove herself beyond a doubt but if she pushed herself too hard, it would end up being a big worry on Sora and Riku's minds. They hadn't really mentioned this to Kairi for fear of what their friend would say to them, eventually though they knew that it would have to be said one day. Riku took today as the right time as he withdraw his Keyblade leaving a confused Kairi.

"Listen Kairi, me and Sora think you've been taking this whole training thing a bit too seriously," Riku said motioning for Sora to come to them. _Of course he would bring me into this, _Sora thought as he walked, or more like dragged, his feet over to the other two. "We just want to let you know that we're here to have fun. Forget about fighting for now. When the worlds are in danger again we can start preparing in earnest."

Kairi looked at the two and smiled, "Aw, I appreciate you guys' concern but I'm fine. I know my limits."

"Seriously though Kairi, just take a week or two off at least. Even Sora and I haven't been training much at all since we've beat Xehanort, right Sora?" Riku nudged his friend in order to get him to say something.

"Uh, yeah. That we understand though Kairi, you don't want to be left behind right?"

"Exactly, I don't really need a break. I'm fine."

"Sorry Kairi, but Riku's right. Too much training isn't a good thing. Besides you'll never be left behind, remember this?" Sora asked pointing to the star pendant on her neck, the one she had given Sora after he had rescued her from Hollow Bastion as it was known then.

Touching her star pendant Kairi soon smiled and allowed her Keyblade to dissolve in a burst of light, "Yeah, your right. Thanks Sora, Riku. I guess I can lay off the training for juuuust a little while."

"Just? Nuh-uh Kairi, you're going to be spending your time the Sora and Riku way for quite some time." Sora chimed putting his hands on both Riku and Kairi's shoulders.

"What exactly is this Sora and Riku way?" Kairi said snickering.

"What are you getting at?" Riku asked folding his arms.

"Oh nothing. Just thinking about something." Kairi replied mischievously. It seemed that she couldn't contain her laughter and burst out full waves of it.

Sora and Riku looked at each other and shook their heads. Taking his hands off both Riku and Kairi he moved behind Kairi and grinned before tickling her. If there was one thing he particularly thankful of, it was that Kairi was ticklish.

"No Sora, don't! Hahahaha." Kairi giggled as the spiky brunette kept at it.

"This is what we mean by Sora and Riku way of course." Sora said while laughing.

Riku laughed and joined in along with Sora.

"Oh, no- not you too... Riku. Aren't you... the mature one?" Kairi said in between breaths.

"Hey, I can have my fun too. Besides you were suggesting completely different things from what he meant." Riku told her and so the torture the two bestowed on merciless Kairi continued.

The trio had spent quite a bit of time together as the day passed and before they knew it, it was already time to go home. The once again beautiful sunset glow hit the island and Sora reminded himself of the ever perpetual sunset of Twilight Town. Sora had made his mind up. He would stay for a while and see the sunset off.

"I'm going to stay here for a while, see you tomorrow." He said as Kairi mentioned how late it was and that she was going home to prepare for school tomorrow. Riku also had announced he was going home to finish of chores.

"You don't have anything to do at home?" Riku asked as he jumped off the Paopu tree with Kairi.

"Nah, at least not anything which that's important." Sora said while wincing. He was sure he was forgetting something important he had to do and his mum would probably end up nagging him to death if he didn't do it.

"Okay, see you tomorrow." Kairi said and the two waved at him as they started their walk across the bridge. Sora waved back and stopped when the two had descended down upon the beach. Watching them walk to their boats, Sora smiled remembering the fun day they had had. From a serious Kairi to a race to a water fight, it had been a pretty erratic day in not just Sora's eyes but Riku and Kairi as well, there was no doubting that. Turning back to the orange sky and ocean in front of him he lay down on the Paopu tree and stared into the sky watching the pattern of the clouds. He supposed he was trying to find random patterns in the clouds anyway but he didn't really spot anything he could say was absolutely interesting, he thought he may have seen elephant figure though possibly resembling his old friend Dumbo. Eventually his eyes diverted back to the ocean and stared at the waves almost mesmerised. He then closed his eyes for awhile.

* * *

A cold chill swept through the air as Sora opened his eyes once again.  
"Whoa, how late is it?" Sora asked himself. It was now night time and instead of a rosy orange sun, he was sitting in front of a pale white moon with many stars surrounding it. The stars, which in actuality were worlds, were placed in various positions, some having certain patterns to them while others not. Overall they all looked amazing to look at. Shaking his head quickly he jumped off the Paopu tree and quickly ran down to his boat. As he crossed halfway through the beach to his destination, his eyes fell upon someone, someone in a black cloak walking towards the secret place. Even from only seeing the back of the costume he could tell that it was the cloak Organization members used or at least those who travelled through portals of darkness. Then suddenly he stopped and raised his hands into the air. Sora summoned his Keyblade but whatever the figure was planning was done too soon with not enough time for Sora to get to them. A red and black orb appeared their hand and shot straight up into the air. As the orb got bigger, the speed of the wind picked up and the sky darkened to an almost pitch black state. What had happened before one and a half years ago was happening again. The island was being destroyed.

"Hey, who are you?" Sora asked angrily as he approached the figure who he could tell was a man by the muscular and toned body shape. The figure turned his head to meet Sora and looked down at him. Although, he couldn't see the person's face, he sensed a sort of humour coming from the man, one of excitement. This angered Sora even further.

"Do you think this is funny? Don't think you can get away with this!" Sora readied the Keyblade poised to strike the man down at any moment. He wouldn't let these islands be destroyed again, he had a duty to protect the worlds as a Keyblade Master and if he couldn't even protect his own world... No, he didn't want to think about it. The man soon shrugged with his shoulders and then ran into the secret place, ducking underneath in order to get to get through the wild plants obstructing the way. Sora followed with haste, crawling through the tunnel as quickly as possible to get to the man. Deep down, he hoped that Riku, Kairi and the others were alright. Emerging from the rather claustrophobic tunnel, he saw that the man in the cloak was nowhere to be seen. Instead, in his place was a dark portal in front of the wooden door or window of the cave. It seemed as if he wanted Sora to chase him considering he probably wouldn't have been that stupid to leave the portal open. Of course if it was a trap of some sort, Sora would be playing right into his hands. Sora looked back, wanting to go back and check on Riku, Kairi, his mother and father, everyone. He knew though that if the islands were being swallowed by darkness, it would be too risky to go back and save them and even if he did, where would they go from there? Everyone and everything would eventually be destroyed anyway. He couldn't forgive the man for doing this, it was as simple as that. Without any more thought, Sora charged right through the darkness leaving Destiny Islands behind to face the wrath of elimination.

_Please let them be okay._

_Please just let them be alright. _

Sora's first reaction when he saw what was in front of him after exiting the portal was, "You can't be serious."

Everything was exactly the same as it had been back then, the neon lights of the shops, the clean pavement, the orange lit lamp posts, even the Moogle flying right past him. He was back in Traverse Town.


	4. Crawling Darkness

Back with another chappie :D So I decided to add TWEWY characters into Traverse Town since they seemed to fit in so well to Traverse Town after playing KH3D. Though I did plan on expanding the world prior to the new areas being announced however this was written after with some of the areas in mind while writing.

Also keep and eye out for the Final Fantasy cameo from my favourite FF game.

* * *

Chapter 4

Crawling Darkness

Luna's eyes opened and immediately met the ceiling, watching the fan above her continuously swirling clockwise. What had that dream been about? She had been in a station, somewhere, definitely not anywhere she had been before in her previous dream. She couldn't make sense of the dream whatsoever. Then again that had been the same for the last dream. What had been weird was that she couldn't remember any of her other dreams either- they were gone along with her memories. So it was possible that she had lost her memory before the previous dream with her and the other girl seeing as she couldn't remember any others. Sitting upright from the comfortable bed she had been in, she stretched, yawned and then got up. Moving over to the switches, she turned them on to light up the darkened room and reveal navy blue wallpaper covering the room with white stripes moving vertically along the wall separated by spaces. Looking at the clock, Luna couldn't help but smirk. It was very interesting with this town how even if it was the morning or so it would still appear to be night. She moved over to the window closest to the clock in the room and opened it. She peeked down curiously over the deserted alley which no one dared tread because of beings known as the Heartless.

* * *

_Earlier..._

_"Heartless?" Luna repeated as the green duck in question, Louie had informed her of not going out doors due to Heartless._

_"Yes ma'am. They've been appearing in masses recently probably due to that Reaper Game." Louie responded. After being woken up by Dewey, the two had gone back to the item shop where his two other brothers had been waiting for them. The first thing the three had told her about was the Reaper's Game, a mysterious and dangerous game going around in Traverse Town. While details were scarce on the subject, Luna was warned to stay in doors for fear of running into the reapers, a mysterious group of individuals devoid of a clear objective, at least as far as anyone in the town could tell anyway. All that was known was that the streets were watched constantly for potential 'players' of the game and if you were seen by a reaper, it was likely that you would be a target for the games. Luna had wondered what kind of games these were but from the expressions of the three ducks' faces, she could already tell that it probably wasn't a good game._

_"They're the darkness in people's hearts though I don't know the details-" Huey informed her before he was cut off- or rather he let Dewey finish the sentence for him._

_"So you might want to ask Unca Scrooge. He's here around here somewhere." The duck screwed his face up in annoyance._

_"Either way, I'm not really sure what to do now. This... uh, Traverse Town was it? I really can't remember anything at all." Luna said a bit too quickly. She couldn't deny she was scared and she had chosen to omit anything to do with the dream she had had to the trio. After all, it was just a dream, right?_

_"That's not good." Hewey, Dewey and Louie all said in unison. Luna sighed, her only hope was to see this Uncle Scrooge and hope that he would be able to tell her more, possibly about herself but that was simply stretching it. She didn't really think that he would even have known her let alone have acknowledged her to the point of being able to recognise her._

_Amidst her confusion, she failed to notice the three ducks conversing behind her back in secret, whispering and nodding into each other's ears._

_"Say guys, what's your uncle like anyways? Guys?" Turning around, Luna picked up on the trio whispering._

_She didn't have to wait long before the ducks separated and looked at her, a grin clearly visible on each of their faces._

_"So we were thinking-"_

_"Since you've lost your memory, temporarily of course and we needed the help-"_

_"We were wondering if you help us in working the shop until you get your memory back!"_

_Each duck piped in full of glee and Luna immediately knew that even if she didn't want to, she couldn't turn down the offer for fear of turning their pleasant smiles upside down._

_"Of course I'd be glad to help you." Luna told them just as gleefully._

_Hewey, Dewey and Louie all cheered in delight and started to dance around the shop and while she couldn't remember a memory with any emotion such as this, the feeling was familiar to her somehow. At least she could still feel and that was good to know because she knew that every little detail would be important, if not in helping to recover her memories then at least to keep her sane._

_The mops hit the floor as the three ducks and the girl started to clean up the shop. Luna was tasked with the assignment of aligning the products of the shelves in perfect symmetry seeing as how the trio could not reach it themselves without the help of a ladder. Examining the bottles more closely, she read the labels in her mind: Potion: Voted the no.1 best treatment for healing wounds and Hi-Potion: The other best treatment for healing wounds._

_"Hey, what's the difference between a potion and Hi-Potion?" Luna asked._

_"Well a Hi-Potion heals wounds more effectively at a faster rate but costs more." Dewey explained and he reached under the counter to retrieve a chocolate bar._

_Looking back at the labels, she then wondered if that was the case why the labels weren't the other way around. Regardless, Luna organised the potions in order carefully so they were adjacent to each other. What she once thought was easy took longer than she first thought. In addition to the potions already stocked on the shelves, she also had to transfer potions from the stock room to refill the cupboards. This took quite a long time and by the time she was done, Luna was quite tired. Exiting the store room with the last set of potions, she saw that the three ducks were already done and were chatting animatedly amongst themselves. This caused her to huff. Would it kill them to help her transfer a few potions into the room? Putting the potions into the cabinet on the left of the ducks she intentionally slammed it shut to alert the ducks and halt their conversation._

_"Ah, you're done? Great job Luna, here ya go!" Huey chucked her one of the chocolate bars from behind the counter. She gladly dug in to it without much thought, as she was very hungry since she first arrived._

_"If you need a place to stay for the night, the hotel should have some free room. I'll take ya there," Louie explained finishing off the delicious (Luna had to admit) chocolate bar and licking his fingers to savour what was to be the last taste of the chocolate, "by tomorrow, Unca Scrooge should be at the shop for you to talk to him."_

* * *

So this was how Luna came to be here, standing at a window and looking down below into the rather empty alley. Empty, just like her memories. The only possible beings out on the street at the moment were Heartless, players and reapers, all of who she wanted to avoid as much as possible. Well, maybe not the players but she had not encountered any on her way here. Even then, she knew that if she were to encounter a Heartless or anything like that she would do the only thing Louie recommended to her on their way to the hotel: "_Run to the first district as fast as you can!"_

Looking at the clock again, she realised it was 11:30am and even that didn't seem to perpetual night sky that engulfed the town. Sitting back down on the bed, Luna tried to remember everything she possibly could. She knew her name, that was a start but beyond that she couldn't remember anything about her life apart from what the dream with her 'friend' had told her and she wasn't even sure the dream had been real. She closed her eyes, in reflection. In her dream, she mentioned that she was 15 years old. The dream, if real, could have taken place a year ago or so, but for now this was all she could do to guess. She also liked this Sea Salt flavour or whatever it was called.

_Meh, not really important._ She thought moving her hands through her hair.

As she tried to remember frame by frame what exactly had happened in her dream, she heard a loud bang from outside, where the second district was. She froze, not exactly sure what do in this situation. It would be best to just leave it alone but at the same time she couldn't help but be curious. Just then she heard a second bang, one much closer to the hotel this time causing Luna to catch her own breath. She soon decided it would be much safer to run to the first district where she would find comfort within the item shop where Huey, Dewey and Louie resided. The only problem was, the sound was coming from that direction. Getting up, she moved over to the door and opened it. Peeking down the corridor, she noticed that no one was in the hallway meaning either everyone had already left or there just was no one there. Even the receptionist was nowhere to be found.

Stepping outside of her room and closing the door quietly, Luna ran straight for the door and barged right out of the hotel doors with such force that she had almost lost her balance when outside. Scanning the area quickly, she found no sign of danger, at least not in her proximity. Still, Luna would rather be safe than sorry and decided not to let her guard down. She ran for the first district door, not really paying attention to anything else, she had completely forgotten about trying to remember any other details. She was also rather excited, just to meet the rich business tycoon, Scrooge McDuck. Hopefully, he would have seen her somewhere before.

"Where are you going miss?"

Luna froze on the spot. Whether it was the fear that was paralyzing her body or whether the man had some sort of hold over her she didn't know. She wanted to run but at the same time knew resistance of any sort would be futile, after all the man could easily be armed. Slowly turning around, she came face to face with what she could classify to be her weirdest encounter yet, the best part being that it wasn't a talking duck. Before her was a man who seemed to be completely stuck in another time period, with a decked out disco suit and baggy black pants, both tailored with the same patterns of what looked like random graffiti art. Under his rather slick suit was an unbuttoned white shirt exposing his chest and also wearing a locket around his neck. The most notable feature however was the sunglasses that the man was wearing, especially weird as it was in fact night time.

"Why so stunned my dear? I won't harm you." The man walked closer slowly but dauntingly. The atmosphere seemed to have changed for some reason and Luna found herself walking backwards towards the first district door realising that it was in fact her fault she hadn't been moving earlier.

"Who are you?" Luna asked looking for a distraction of some sort, anything would do. She had a guess as to who the person was anyway but she only hoped she was wrong.

A brief smile from the man's face however confirmed her suspicions, "Megumi Kitaniji, Conductor of the Reaper Games."

If he was hoping to get some sort of a reaction from Luna, he thought wrong. She refused to fall into this trap of fear that he had created, "Your point disco man? Aren't you late for a party or something?" She mocked knowing that she would probably pay for this.

Surprisingly the man chuckled and ran his hands through his slick black hair, "Cute. Would you like to try an act for comedy? Rather interesting though. When most hear of the Reapers they freeze as if paralyzed. A strange chill fills the air and the oxygen around them just seems to dissipate as the blood seems to leave their face. Their eyes widen in horror and their pupils dilate. Their mouths tremble and they find themselves unable to speak. You exhibit none of that except for when you were paralyzed earlier except that was before I told I was a Reaper." Kitaniji analysed smirking.

_Now that was scary. _

"So... Out with it! What do you want from me?"

"Oh, I would have thought it to be obvious. As a... organization who are interested in the stability of this town, we hire certain people who we think have the potential to do just that," Kitaniji started apparently seeming to choose his words carefully although it was too obvious to Luna that he was just stalling in order to play around more, "These people carry out missions assigned by us Reapers and well, the rest is history. At the end of seven days of missions, there will only be one survivor, and that person will have any wish they want," he paused here for effect staring straight into her eyes, for whatever reason, and Luna could guess why- this man was talking about her lost memories. The next words the man spoke seemed as if an invisible dagger had stabbed at her heart, "So I hereby declare you, part of the reaper games!"

If she had attempted to hide all the fear from her face before, it was clearly visible now. Luna suddenly winced in pain as she felt a sting on her hand. Looking at her hand she began to feel the tears flowing from her eyes and blurring her vision. On her hand was a timer, counting down: _19:59_. _19:58_. She was now officially a player in the Reapers game.

* * *

"Traverse Town again?" Sora muttered under his breath. As before, the first district was bustling with people going about their usual business and then a rather special case. A huge crowd was hustled around a podium near the cafe and on it seemed to be the leader of the pack, a man pumping his fists into the air.

"These players are dangerous! Avoid them at all costs if you want to live!" The man shouted peeking Sora's interest. Moving over to the group he listened in on what appeared to be a rally.

"They took my child away from me." A woman cried out behind Sora, the others staying quiet for a while to listen to her tale of how her child was abducted and turned into a player. He was never found again suggesting that he was either kidnapped or worse.

"Don't let the players get near you. You might catch whatever it is they have." Another woman yelled.

"They broke my back. It's aching from them players." An elderly man added in.

"Uh, what? You've had that for a while gramps. Are you going crazy on me?" A girl, probably no older than 10 quipped.

"I did? Oh, sorry Relm my darling, my memory must be starting to fail me." The older man scratched his head in confusion and Sora couldn't help but chuckle.

"That's it, you're going back home with me before you embarrass me and yourself any further." Relm said as she surprisingly managed to drag the elderly man by the ear along with her. Sora and the crowd watched in awe as the odd pair headed towards the third district and out of their sight before turning their attention back to what they had been doing before. Something about players. Reapers. Hands with numbers on them. Infections. Sora had heard enough rambling after a minute or so since he couldn't understand it anyway just from listening and so he decided to interrupt their meeting.

"Excuse me," he yelled to get the crowd's attention, "what exactly is going on?"

"You don't know m'boy?" The man on the podium boomed. From the distance he was compared to Sora, it was surprising to him that it had felt as if the man were right next to him.

"Am I supposed to know?" Sora asked. Regardless of whatever the man was going to say, he realised he would need to find Riku and Kairi. Hopefully they were safe and had simply been whisked away to another world. If it was this one, it would be even better.

"The whole town knows kid... unless, you're from another world kupo." A Moogle in front of Sora guessed. Sora looked down, noticing the Moogle for the first time, luckily he had not stepped on him before this.

"Something like that, so are you gonna tell me what's going on or-"

Before Sora could finish said sentence, a huge gathering of Heartless appeared near the item shop. Shadows, eyeing the massive offering of hearts in front of them in which they could feast upon. The crowd screamed in horror and dispersed rather quickly heading for the stairs which led to the accessory shop and second district. The other citizens, trying not to pay attention to the cult following, screamed as well, running to the other districts or into shops.

"Okay then, let's do this." Sora whispered as he summoned his Keyblade and readied himself, a grin on his face. Sora managed to take care of the Shadows without much trouble, of course they still posed the problem of sinking into the ground before he got to them, which always had frustrated Sora on his previous journeys.

After he had got rid of them, he heard someone speak behind him, "you're pretty impressive."

Turning around, he met another girl however a bit older this time with short blonde hair underneath a skullcap with what looked like a sticker of a skull attached to it. Another skull was also featured on her orange shirt.

"Uh, thanks I guess?" Sora blushed scratching the back of his head, he wasn't usually used to being praised by little girls but there was always a first.

"The name's rhyme, or at least that's what my bro calls me. What's your name?"

Sora's nervousness came to a stop as he settled down and became calmer, "Sora, nice to meet you Rhyme."

_That smile of hers probably helped. _

The two shook hands and then suddenly Rhyme winced in pain.

"Are you alright?" Sora asked frantically. Had he done something wrong?

"It's okay. It was just this," She paused momentarily as if considering whether or not to trust Sora but in the end she probably thought she could as she opened her palm revealing a number counting down: _19:59. 19:58._

Sora's eyes widened in horror as he examined the countdown carefully, "What's that and how did it get on your hand?"

As if she were expecting such a reaction from Sora she explained smiling throughout, "When the Reapers abducted me and my friend Beat, they made us players. As players, we have to complete missions on a daily basis and we're given a timer to complete that mission. If we fail its game over and we get erased."

_Yeah...Still not getting it. _Sora thought as he tried to sum up the information but was failing.

"I take it you're not a player then." Rhyme said more as a conclusion rather than a question. For a second however, Sora had almost thought he had heard a tone of disappointment in her voice.

"Sorry. But hopefully I can still help if there's a way. I'm not really sure about all of this Reaper and player stuff so maybe you can fill me in on this whole thing a bit more?" Sora suggested as Rhyme pulled out her phone. Just what was he getting himself in to? He didn't know and as he waited for Rhyme's reply he wondered what had happened to Traverse Town since he had last came here to change it like this. People were now coming out of the shops weary and checking for any signs of danger before they went back to their normal business.

Finally Rhyme put her phone away and grinned at Sora, "Well I'm actually looking for Beat. When I woke up in the first district just a few minutes ago, I noticed that he wasn't here alongside me. Since he might be heading to the mission right now, could you help me to find him?"

"Sure, no prob," Sora grinned back before remembering about his two friends, "Oh, by the way have you come across a girl with red hair and a guy with long silver hair, kind of has a tough guy attitude?"

When the girl shook her head and offered her apologies, Sora told her not worry about it but deep down was rather sad about it. Was he to repeat the same journey, looking for his friends across the many worlds out there once again, with having no idea where to look?

As Sora walked through the third district, he listened to Rhyme explain what was going on around the Town. About the Reapers selecting people to become players and those players needed partners to survive. Hers was Beat however he had gone missing after they had completed their last mission. The mission Sora and Rhyme were currently heading to, as well as where Beat would hopefully be, was in the fourth district where they would have to find a Bulky Vendor which possessed an Orichalcum item which to Sora's knowledge on his previous journeys, could be used for Synthesis although he didn't exactly know what a Bulky Vendor was. Sora was still rather confused by all of this but he understood the basics, enough to know that what these Reapers were doing was completely evil.

"Why would they want to do this though?" Sora found himself asking as they neared the door to the fourth district, which Sora had never been to before let alone noticed when he had first come here.

"No idea. The Reapers like to work in secret, so the only way you could know any of their plans is if you were one of them," Rhyme paused before adding in, "not to mention they've only appeared recently. Around the time the Heartless started reappearing actually."

"Reappearing? So they weren't here before?"

"They appeared here about two weeks ago along with the Reapers." Rhyme explained.

So then the Reapers had something to do with the appearance of the Heartless. Sora assumed they were working together though he wasn't exactly sure why they had waited until two weeks ago to do this.

The pathway twisted as Sora and Rhyme went further along. Variations of Soldier-type Heartless stood in their way as Sora smashed through them easily with his Keyblade as Rhyme took them out with fire magic.

After they finished off with the last remaining ones, Sora turned to the panting Rhyme, "Where did you learn that magic? That was great!"

Rhyme smiled at the compliment quickly recovering from any sign of tiredness, "Thanks. I just seemed to already know it when I first became a player. It's as if when I became one it also gave me the ability to use fire magic. Unfortunately Beat doesn't have it. He uses his skateboard to fight- and sometimes his fists, though that doesn't really work well against these." Sora and Rhyme both laughed. It was at that time that he began to wonder that if Riku or Kairi were here, could they have ran into the Reapers and if so, could they have been made... Sora didn't want to think about it. He trusted that both Riku and Kairi were strong enough to handle whatever the Reapers had thrown at them if they had met.

Rather than bring this up to disrupt the mood, Sora asked a more personal question as they advanced to the door, "So how did you and Beat meet anyway?"

"We were near each other when we woke up after one of the Reapers had turned us into players. I can't really remember what happened before it though; I think I lost my memory somehow. Even then, Beat treated me like he immediately knew me so I guess we must have had some connection before we met. Since then though, Beat's been like a bro to me." Rhyme's smile shone through once again and Sora had to question how she could still keep smiling even though she had lost her memory. When Sora had lost his memories one by one at Castle Oblivion, at least he still had something worth fighting for but he couldn't imagine losing your memories completely.

"Don't worry about it Rhyme. I'm sure your memories are still down there somewhere. 'Forgotten, but not lost'." Sora said repeating some of the words he had remembered telling both himself and Namine before he had fallen in to his deep sleep.

"I'm sure your right Sora. I'll remember them someday and hopefully Beat and I can still be friends then." Rhyme replied as Sora opened the doors to the fourth district.

* * *

For all those wanting a bit more from Relm and Strago, do not worry, they shall return :D Also please review :)


	5. The Reapers' Game

Another chapter and we are getting into the heart of Traverse Town this time. And what will be a rather frustrating Reaper mission for the players. Anyone up for a search mission? Hahaha *Cough*.

* * *

Chapter 5

The Reapers' Game

The first thing one would notice when you entered the fourth district is that it was big. Tremendously big in fact. As Sora jumped on to the rooftop of one building to get a good view of the place he was instantly taken back by the multiple buildings covering the ground. In fact, he could barely see the ground, only what was directly in front of him which wasn't much. Lights of mixed colours reminiscent of the sunset glowed across the district. The buildings all seemed to surround what was at the centre of the district. A magnificent, giant-sized marble statue of the famous dogs which had also been in the fountain in the third district. Connected to the head of the dogs were wires holding what Sora recognised as Chinese lanterns, ones which he had seen near the emperor's palace in Mulan's world. These were connected to the innermost buildings surrounding the statue however lit up the square beautifully, it definitely seemed like one of the most attractive view sights of the district. Sora definitely did not want to imagine Riku and Kairi being anywhere here, that was for sure.

Jumping back down, Sora approached Rhyme who was in the process of switching between looking at her hand and her phone every second or so, "How long do we have left?"

"Fifteen minutes." Rhyme answered as she finally put away her phone.

"This district is _huge_! Do we even know what this thing looks like?" Sora asked.

"No, but other players are looking for the same thing, so even if we don't find it-"

"The mission still gets completed, right," Sora finished her sentence remembering one of the things Rhyme had told him about this game. As long as one person got to the objective before the timer ran out, then the mission would be completed for everyone. Sora still noticed a problem with this however, "But the Heartless will also be around here right? You said people like Beat don't have any powers so they're still in danger."

"I know... but that's how things work in the Reapers' Game. People get erased everyday by Heartless and new players come in." Rhyme said sighing and Sora's face turned in to one of disgust.

Sora and Rhyme continued their journey down the pathways of the fifth district. When on the ground, the atmosphere of the place was mildly the same as the other districts he had been to, more so the second one than third or first because of the alarming number of shops and houses aligned perfectly next to one another. At this point in time, Sora remembered why he was even here. The man in the black cloak, who had destroyed the islands and was probably responsible the death of the many innocents on that island. The world would be thrust into darkness and his adventure, defeating Xehanort's Heartless and restoring the world to its former self had been all for nought. His blood swelled deep inside as he questioned if he was truly alone now. Had Riku and Kairi been swept in by the darkness alongside his parents, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie and the all the other residents of the once peaceful islands? While he didn't want to think about it, that only made him angrier and as the realization sunk in that maybe... just maybe... everyone was gone, he couldn't help but grit his teeth and pace himself faster surprising the rather anxious Rhyme, who no doubt was only looking for her friend. She didn't understand what was going on with Sora at the moment and Sora was inclined to let that be, if not for the moment.

"Sora, slow down," Rhyme called from behind him and Sora stopped, not wanting to turn his head back to the sweet innocent girl confused by this sudden energetic Sora. Not wanting to see that smile of hers... always smiling. It would break his heart if he did look, even for a second, "What's up Sora? I can tell something is wrong."

"It's just this Reaper thing is completely twisted." Sora lied, or at least partially. While it was true that he was repulsed by that, it hadn't been on his mind for quite some time. Still, he refused to look at Rhyme and instead turned his head toward the ground.

"It's okay. Beat once told me something like 'What comes around goes around yo. Those Reapers ain't gonna get away with this.'" Rhyme imitated in a slightly boyish manner, the best she could possibly muster.

_Well that cheered me up._

Sora laughed once again and when he turned around to meet Rhyme. He found something else other than what he thought he would have first found. It was calmness resonating not just from her smile but from her eyes. Sora at that point remembered Kairi's grandmother's tale about the children of light rebuilding the worlds. If all it took was a smile, then that tale could be accomplished easier than he had first thought.

* * *

It was generally obvious to most that when confronted with danger, you don't mock it and laugh it in the face. This usually results in making matters worse. And yet, Luna had decided to do this, not knowing the full consequences of such an act. As Luna sat in the middle of nowhere, she pondered many things. What if she had gone out by the alleyway at the back of the hotel? It was unlikely that said danger could have known she would have been at the hotel, right? Should she have just run away? Why had she not had the strength to move her legs but instead have the strength to make witty remarks against said danger which could have possibly killed her? All the questions she had piled inside her head and right now she really couldn't make sense of any of it. The questions and probably the answers to them were swarming around like bees, too hard to connect one to another. She remembered that just before the mysterious Kitaniji disappeared off into the second district, he had told her the mission she was to complete, to find some sort of rare Heartless and dispose of it. But she'd be darned if she could even remember what the thing was called as she hadn't been paying attention at the time, with the shock of becoming a player and all.

Finally mustering up some strength, Luna got up from the ground where she had previously been near the door of the first district. Would the three ducks accept her after she had become something like... this? Well, she would never know unless she went there. Holding her head down, she pushed open the doors of the first district and stepped forward-

BAM!

Luna was knocked on to her feet by a terrible collision to her head. She rubbed her head in frustration as the annoyance of a headache continued to sting.

"Darn it! Watch where you're going." A feminine voice called out rather close to her. From her blurred vision, Luna could tell she was also on the floor.

"What do you mean where I'm going? You're the one who should be looking where you're going." Luna argued back. Shaking her head, her vision soon came in to focus to reveal a girl with long reddish brown hair with the top covered by a cap and similar coloured eyes. Getting up, Luna decided that she may as well help the other girl up who offered her thanks in return. Luna got to see more of her appearance while the girl bushed what seemed like invisible dirt off of her clothes. The red haired girl had a short sleeved red shirt attached to a hoody. The rather short shirt in itself clung to her frame ending only a part way from her stomach and exposing her midriff. In addition to this, she also wore a low cut green skirt attached with bag and long brown boots not to mention a scent of rosy perfume. In comparison, it was as if Shiki's appearance had made it seem as if Luna had been living on the streets all her life which was funny considering she had been out there for goodness knows how long a few hours ago.

"I'm Shiki Misagi, sorry for running in to you like that. I was kind of in a hurry... well, still am actually." Shiki introduced herself offering her hand.

Luna shook it as she spoke, "Nice to meet you, my name's Luna,". After letting go off her hand, Luna had looked down in time to see a timer counting down on Shiki's hand just like her own, "Wait a minute, you're a player?"

"Uh, was it that obvious?" Shiki asked giving a nervous smile.

"Your hand. Don't worry, I'm one too actually." Luna replied as she held up her hand. She couldn't help but smile a bit, knowing she had met someone else like her.

"Oh, that's great! Well not great, but you know what I mean. I've been looking for a partner but couldn't find one. Would you make a pact with me?"

"A pact? What's that?" Luna asked, the tone of confusion clear in her voice which was responded with a sigh from Shiki.

"You don't know what a pact is? Did they tell you anything? How long have you been a player anyway?" Shiki asked with a curious look on her face.

"No, no and just a few minutes ago, four to be exact." Luna told the surprised red head.

"This isn't good. Right, we'll partner up now and I'll explain on the way to the fourth district. After the mission... well, maybe we could get you some new clothes." Shiki remarked sticking out her tongue in mock disgust at the rather torn jeans Luna had been wearing. She hadn't even noticed much until she had taken a good look at Shiki and she couldn't help but agree.

"Before we go, you do have a weapon or power right?"

Luna's face scrunched up into confusion once again when she heard the question. What in the world was that supposed to mean? She tried to sound rather innocent as the she spoke the following words, although maybe a bit too innocently, "I don't think so, was I supposed to know?"

Shiki laughed at the innocent face Luna was making, "Oh, they really haven't told you anything. Didn't give you anything either."

Luna sighed. This was going to be a long day... or night.

In order to get to the fourth district, you had to go through either the door to the third district in the first or go in order. According to Shiki, the third district had been inaccessible from the first due to a mass rally blocking the way so the next way was through the second district. As this way was longer however, Shiki and Luna would lose a lot of time so they had to run for it. After explaining to Luna that her weapon was what appeared to be a psychic cat doll which attacked its opponents, she was surprised to hear that Luna had nothing of the sort. This left the two at a disadvantage although unbeknownst to both of them, they didn't realise that Luna wasn't the only player who didn't have any powers. It still meant that Shiki would have to put in the extra effort to protect Luna while fighting off Heartless and if Luna could help in any way, she would although she still wasn't sure how. Checking her timer as they got to the third district, Luna announced the time aloud: _12:05_.

"Great, we have enough time. The fourth district is further down here." Shiki pointed towards the long corridor in the top left corner of the district. As they advanced to the centre of the square, a few Shadows surrounded them, at least five of them.

"Right, stay behind me Luna." Shiki declared taking out her Mr. Mew stuffed animal from her bag. Luna didn't object to this at all, in fact in her mind she was pretty much screaming and thinking about running away. Did it really matter if she was behind anyway seeing as a few of the Shadows were behind her?

"Alright Mr. Mew. Time to kick some ass, go get 'em." She shouted out of nowhere making Luna jump at the sudden comment. Throwing Mr. Mew into the air, she and Luna both watched as the cat became a real animated object flying around the air and doing cartwheels all around the place. Luna noted that Shiki appeared to be controlling the cat with her index finger which she kept trained on the cat at all times. The cat began its descent, knocking in to the Shadows in front of the girls. One Heartless was hit and was knocked back on to its back while the other one right near it sunk into the ground to avoid the attack. A Heartless moved from behind the two, Luna turning her head just in time to spot it. The creature readied its pounce then jumped. In last minute desperation, Luna tensed herself in fear and threw a punch at the Shadow. To her surprise, the hit connected launching the Heartless backwards a bit, however other than that it barely seemed phased by this attack as it landed back on its feet. As she watched the thing twitch, its legs extend as it moved even more menacingly than before if that was possible, she realised that these were the creatures from her dreams. She had disposed of them rather easily there, but in the real world she had nothing to defend herself with. The Heartless jumped at her once again along with the other two behind her. The only thing she could do was close her eyes and shield her body with her arms and in the long run that wouldn't even help.

_I'm done for._

"Watch out!"

Luna's eyes opened just in time as Mr. Mew crashed in to the three Shadows with full force taking them both out. Shiki jumped to her left to avoid an attack from the Shadow in front of her and then sent the Mr. Mew flying at it also managing to take it out. The Heartless which had sunk into the ground reappeared behind Shiki.

"Shiki, behind you." Luna told her quickly. Shiki turned around and sent Mr. Mew flying towards the Shadow defeating it.

"Phew, that was close. Thanks Luna." Shiki said sending Mr. Mew back into her bag.

"Likewise," Luna replied, her heart currently beating frantically at the close encounter.

"Still we wasted some time on this, about ten minutes left," Shiki told her as she checked her watch, "We should hurry."

"Right." Luna agreed as she leaded the way to the alleyway in front of them this time. Little did they know that watching them from behind was man shrouded in a black hood concealing the smile on his face.

* * *

"I think I found it!" Sora exclaimed as he examined a large round machine filled with small multi-coloured balls.

"No, that's a gumball machine silly." Rhyme said giggling making Sora blush in embarrassment.

"This Bulky Vendor thing is harder to find than I thought." Sora said stretching his arms a bit with his Keyblade in hand. After the two had arrived at the District, Sora and Rhyme both started their search for the mysterious Bulky Vendor. The first thing was figuring out what one looked like as both Sora and Rhyme had seen one before. So they had decided to investigate, ask around for information related to strange sightings. As expected, they had found little to go on however they did pick up one piece of information from a man at the jewellery shop who had thought he had seen one. He had described it as looking like a candy machine and disappearing after a split second. If this was true then it would pose a lot of problems for Sora and Rhyme. There was also the problem of the humongous population in the area and it didn't help that Heartless had kept popping up either.

"Well it is rare. Don't worry Sora, we have about ten and a half minutes. I'm sure we'll find it in that time if someone else hasn't." Rhyme said as she looked around once more.

"Yeah, we only have about three quarters of a district left to check out, I'm sure we can find him in time," Sora said sarcastically, although it didn't seem as if Rhyme had picked up on it as she simply nodded her head and continued on, "Maybe we'll do better searching on the rooftops."

"Good idea Sora." Rhyme agreed. Sora was almost sure that she had her mind on other things than just the mission right now and she wasn't the only one.

Both Rhyme and Sora hopped onto the nearest building from their location and looked around. The one thing that seemed to interrupt Sora's senses greatly was the smell of bread in the area making him realise how hungry he was. He hadn't even had dinner yet.

"You think we can eat after this Rhyme?" Sora asked.

As if not a coincidence, Rhyme's stomach grumbled at that exact moment. Laughing it off she answered him, "Not like I'm gonna say no after that. Hopefully we can get this mission done quickly huh?"

Sora agreed briskly with a grin and ran on ahead jumping from rooftop to rooftop as he examined the streets below with Rhyme following quickly in his wake.

It turned out that searching on the roofs were just as effective as searching on the streets. While they had been able to cover more ground faster, they still hadn't spotted the rare Heartless in question. Another disadvantage of this route was that it didn't cover as many spots as one might think. Depending on the size it could be anywhere, even a place where Sora and Rhyme couldn't see from the roofs. Time was running out and Sora and Rhyme weren't even half way to searching the district. Their hopes started to diminish and with any luck hopefully someone else would find the thing in time. Still they continued their search, each person meanwhile thinking about finding something else. It had still shocked Sora that he had not come across the man who had destroyed the islands yet. After coming here, he realised how many hiding spots Traverse Town truly had and the realisation was just setting in.

They were soon about to give up when Rhyme spotted something, "Sora, look!"

Sora turned his head in the direction Rhyme was pointing to see a lone Soldier Heartless jumping across the rooftops moving in the direction towards the centre of the district.

"Right! Time to dispose of this thing." Sora said. He was about to summon his Keyblade when Rhyme put her hand out to stop him.

Looking at her quizzically, Rhyme smiled and explained, "What if we follow him. He might lead us to this thing we're looking for."

Sora halted and considered this suggestion "Isn't that a bit risky? I mean we only have a few minutes left and if we're wrong..."

"It's better than having no leads to go on though right?" Rhyme said as she watched the Soldier's movements carefully.

"Still, what's the chance that it will lead us- Rhyme? Hey! Rhyme, come back!" But she was already gone, chasing after the Soldier and jumping rooftop after rooftop. Sora sighed and glided quickly towards her. Catching up with her, the two followed the Heartless trying to make as little sound as possible. Their feet barely touched the ground of the rooftops before launching off again on to the next one. In no time they had put themselves in a considerable distance from the Heartless who had still thankfully not seen them. Surprisingly it had not taken long before the Heartless had stopped jumping across rooftop and jumped off into a deserted alleyway. Sora and Rhyme observed the Heartless' activities from above keeping low to avoid detection. It seemed as if it was putting an item, which to Sora looked like a rather beautiful aquamarine shard, into something else though the object was obscured. After a few seconds, it moved away. At that second Sora saw the thing they were after, a rather strange gumball machine with a Heartless insignia on it sat in the corner. It seemed things had worked out after all, he was wrong to have doubted Rhyme. Alerting Rhyme quietly to this development, she smiled and moved her hand quickly informing him to go around to the rooftop above the Heartless. Sora understood the plan immediately. He would jump it from above and Rhyme would corner it from the front to prevent it from escaping if it tried to. Sora stayed low and sneaked over to the rooftop next to him. The buildings were attached so all Sora had to do was climb over onto the elevated rooftop. Easy work. Sora positioned himself directly above the Bulky Vendor and looked at Rhyme. She nodded and Sora took that as the queue to jump down, Rhyme right after him. Managing to grab the Bulky Vendor successfully, Sora tried to open it up for the Orichalcum item. Unfortunately, both Sora and Rhyme had completely forgot that the Soldier Heartless was nearby who spun kicked across the face sending him flying into a wall. Rhyme used fire on the Soldier who took the blow which led to its demise. The Bulky Vendor was luckier as it vanished before Rhyme could land her hands on it.

"No." Sora muttered under his breath, wincing in pain as he got back up from the rather painful impact not just from the kick but also of his head against the wall.

Rhyme turned to him with a concerned look on her face, "Sora, are you okay?"

"I messed up. We almost had it. I just didn't think that stupid Heartless would be a threat so I went for the Orichalcum first. I'm sorry." Sora told her looking at the ground in dismay.

"Don't blame yourself Sora. It was my plan. I should have taken care of that Heartless but instead I guess I just concentrated on the mission too much," Rhyme said more interested in her hands than the ground, "Guess us players are pretty screwed huh?"

"How much time is left?" Sora asked, the answer wasn't kind to either of them.

"Two minutes and thirty seconds."

Sora closed his eyes for a second thinking about everything that had happened so far, and then he laughed cheerfully, "Yeah, I guess you're screwed."

Rhyme was rather confused at this sudden reaction, "Uh, are you alright Sora? That wall really give you a beating huh? Usually when someone says that, you're supposed to say something like 'No, we can get out of this' or 'Believe, you'll get out of this'."

"I'm perfectly alright Rhyme. It's just that someone needs to smile when we're both down and since you're not smiling right now, I guess it's my turn." Sora replied.

"I really don't think this is the time to be laughing." Rhyme told the spiky brunette but the boy shook his head in response.

"Ah but you're not getting it. We almost gave up hope. I think that's what the Reapers are trying to do. How difficult have your missions been lately?"

"They were always pretty difficult. I'm not seeing what you're getting at." Rhyme answered him, she was totally lost which made Sora beam even more.

"But that's it. They've not always been completed by you and Beat, it's how you and Beat are still alive. I'm not a player, but if I was one I would be saying that we're so worried about ourselves that we're not thinking about other people. They're strong too and some of them probably do have magic like you. We shouldn't underestimate them even if we only have a few minutes left. Why don't all players just band together and defeat the Reapers?"

"It's not that simple Sora. Even if we did that, we have no idea where they are. We have no idea what powers they have and they pretty much made sure at the start that we'd only be able to rely on one other player so there's a lack of-"

"Trust right?" Sora finished the little girl's sentence, who looked at him in return before chewing her sleeve as if in thought.

"Wait a minute. Are you saying that could be the Reapers plan? To create and spread fear? But why would they do that?" Rhyme asked to which Sora shrugged.

"Hey, it's just a theory. I know nothing about this except for what you've told me. But from that it does seem like there holding the town at ransom. Fear not just in the players but the non-players as well." Sora finished amazed at his interpretation of the situation. It was funny because usually Riku was one who came up with these things.

_He must be rubbing off on me. _Sora thought with an inside grin.

Rhyme looked back on her hand and then beamed happily at Sora, "It's gone!"

"There ya go. Told you we should have trust. I mean, don't say I told you so but I told you so." Sora grinned.

"Enough with the cockiness oh mighty spiky one." Rhyme attacked back.

"Hey, it's not that spiky. Trust me when I say there's spikier." Sora defended.

Suddenly a voice came from behind them, "Yo Rhyme. I finally found ya. Wheres you've been?"

"Beat!" Rhyme yelled and ran towards him, "Where have you been?"

Beat rolled his eyes, "Jeez, are you my mom or something? Nah, I'm just kiddin'. I woke up some place completely different from where we last were. I was tryin' to find ya but I had no idea where to look. When the mission came up I probably figured that you would be headin' there in that direction so I went."

"Did you find the Bulky Vendor?" Sora inquired.

Instead of answering the question, Beat asked his own question first, "Who are you? Rhyme's new partner?"

Rhyme then explained how Sora helped her to find Beat as well as complete the mission. She also mentioned Sora's theory to which Beat claimed to have already guessed however by the way he had said, Sora was ultimately led to believe that he hadn't.

After hearing Rhyme's story, Beat's rather intimidating demeanour softened up replaced by that of a smile, "Ah, sorry about that. Thanks for protecting her for me dude. You're cool."

"Happy to help. So about my question..."

"I didn't. I saw it but it disappeared before I could catch it man. I dug up some pretty bad info as well. Apparently the Reapers have been on an erasing role this week. Those asshats have been taking player's hearts so there are barely any of us left this week." Beat explained, wrinkling his nose in disgust when he mentioned the 'asshats'.

"By asshats you mean..." Sora trailed off not knowing who Beat was referring.

"The Heartless, spiky. Everyone calls em that these days." Beat said shocked that Sora didn't know this.

"And by everyone, he means only him." Rhyme added in much to Beat's annoyance.

"What's with the spiky comments? It's Sora. S-O-R-A! Got it memorised?" Sora said imitating a particular fiery individual.

"Don't take it personally Sora. I think your hair is pretty neat. I still wonder who captured this thing though." Rhyme pondered.

* * *

_Five minutes earlier... _

Shiki swore under her breath as looked into the night sky, "How hard is it to find one Heartless?"

"You do know what rare means right?" Luna questioned raising an eyebrow.

"Of course I do. Even so I'm usually used to them finding me, not the other way around." Shiki replied stretching her arms in to the air and yawning. Luna nodded her head in understanding as she examined the area around of her. They had been in the fourth district for a few minutes but were already completely lost. Even Shiki, who had lived in this town all her life, had still not mapped out the entire area and had even said she had gotten lost on multiple occasions. To put it simply, it was very unlikely they would come across this Bulky Vendor.

"So what do you think we should do then?" Luna asked determined not to give up, or maybe she was just afraid to be erased, she wasn't entirely sure.

"What can we do but keep searching? It would be great if we had a way to narrow down the places we could search." Shiki said.

"Should we try asking about again? We haven't asked anyone here yet." Luna suggested to which Shiki smiled at the suggestion.

"Okay, let's do that."

After talking to a few of the citizens about the Bulky Vendor but not directly mentioning that they were players, the girls came to the same conclusion. The mission was rigged to reduce the number of players in the game. The reason they believed this was that it had seemed as if the Reapers had chosen the smallest and rarest Heartless possible to find, one that no one had any idea what it looked like. Either they had been hoping that this would put the players' investigative skills to the test or there were just too many of the players left and not enough had been erased during the week.

"So it's likely then that they'll pick players off at random?" Luna asked Shiki after they both explained the conclusion they came to.

"Yeah, probably not all the players since they need some around for the fun of it." Shiki answered and Luna gulped. So everyone was at risk then. Maybe they would spare her and Shiki since they had just become players, but at the same time she had no powers whatsoever. If the Reapers wanted fun they would be saving the wrong person unless they liked helpless people being hunted. She had partnered with Shiki, yet had nothing to show for it. If partners were supposed to be equals then she was doing a fine job of that wasn't she? Being unable to defend herself and having to rely on Shiki for everything. And just how far would they be able to go like that? As far as she was concerned, Shiki wouldn't last the week with her as a partner if today was anything to go by. She was completely useless.

Luna sighed, closed her eyes for a bit and then said her thoughts aloud, "Forget me Shiki. They'll go for me, I just know it. I'm a liability at best and I don't want you to get hurt because I was unable to do anything, so please just go find someone else."

"What are you talking about Luna? You're my partner." Shiki cried out.

"How can a partner be useless? I have no weapon or power or anything of the sort. I'm also telling you now that I don't have any recollection of who I am except for my name. We won't last the week like this any you know it!" Luna yelled back, trying to stop the tears about to flow from her eyes.

Shiki opened her mouth in shock at Luna's revelation and then after a second closed it again. It took a moment before her next words were spoken softly and slowly, "Listen to me. You're not the only the only one who's felt useless at one point. I have too and I almost let it take over me. I was jealous... of a friend. She was beautiful like you and I aspired to be everything like her. The result was lies and I started not to trust the world around me. I couldn't do anything and relied on her so much that I became so angry and annoyed... I started to ignore her.

"Then I became a Player. At first I loved that I was unique in my own way but in the end it wasn't worth it. My first partner only lasted three days until he had his heart taken away from him by a Heartless. Ever since then, I've wanted it to go back to the way it had been, when I wasn't a player, but what's done is done and I can't change that now. All I can do now is believe in my heart and continue onward, hoping that the day will come when all the players are free. I'm sorry about your memories Luna but whether you realise it or not, you've already got a weapon. It just depends how you use it that matters and if you use it correctly, you'll be rewarded. That's what I believe anyway. So, you're my partner and your sticking with me whether you like it or not."

Luna smiled, allowing the tears to go down her eyes. She hadn't really thought much of Shiki ending up as her friend, with just meeting her and all but she knew deep down that Shiki was right.

"You know you wasted about a minute with that monologue of yours." Luna joked wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Ah, well they did say I was a sap for dramatic stories." Shiki snickered as she moved in and hugged her new friend. Luna returned the hug, glad to have someone to confide in other than the three ducks. Speaking of them, she soon remembered that she had to go and see Scrooge after this.

The hunt continued on, knowing full well that their time was low but continuing to pursue the Bulky Vendor. With a little push, they soon came in to something that they did need and it wasn't the Orichalcum. As the two girls observed the street they had now moved into, they checked in different directions, Shiki keeping to the right while Luna the opposite.

"If it is a Heartless you are searching for, I can give you a hint as to how to find it."

Turning their heads behind them, the saw black cloaked figure with a hood covering his face.

"Really? Is it the Bulky Vendor?" Shiki asked but Luna was more rigorous in her tone.

"Hold it Shiki. Why are you wearing that and why should we trust what you say?"

"Do you have any other choice? Also I'm a man who prefers to be concealed in the shadows and prefer to wear things such as this." The man's deep voice rung out.

Luna continued to be suspicious but instead eased up a little, "Okay, you have our attention. What's the hint?"

"The type of Heartless you're after generally prefers shiny objects. That is all." The man answered and walked away soon after.  
"Hey! That wasn't much of a hint!" Shiki yelled calling after the man to stop but he didn't and soon he disappeared out of view, "Great. What in Pongo's name was that supposed to mean?"

"I guess the Bulky Vendor likes shiny objects. That's it really unless... wait a minute, do you have any shiny things on you right now?"

"Uh, let me dig into my bag and see..." Shiki answered and journeyed through her bad with her hand. She pulled out a rather shiny metallic case.

"Great, here's my plan. We're going to lure the thing over here using that and once it tries to take it, we capture it. Of course if it isn't anywhere near us, it probably won't appear but it's our best shot at this point." Luna explained snatching the case from Shiki's hand.

"Hey, that's my favourite make-up case." Shiki whined and Luna couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Shh, okay? If all goes to plan, we can get the thing before it takes your case. Just go somewhere where it can't see you right now alright? Leave everything to me." Luna instructed Shiki who had struggled to compose herself before silently agreeing much to Luna's amusement. Checking her hands again, Luna noted that they had two minutes and thirty six seconds left. She then jogged off and hid around the corner of the nearest building, where she happily found she could get a good peek of the street without showing too much of herself. She wasn't exactly sure where Shiki had hidden but that was of little importance now. All she was focused on now was the shiny object in the middle of the street. She would have to hope that the Bulky Vendor appeared and that no one else came to pick the make-up set up.

A minute had passed and Luna had began to feel that her plan wasn't going to work at all. Had the man from before tricked her and Shiki? Just as she thought this, the candy-machine shaped Heartless appeared in front of the case. Its mouth opened wide and tried to suck the case in however at the last moment to both the surprise of the Vendor and Luna, the case turned vertically and found itself stuck in the Heartless' mouth. Not exactly what she thought would happen but this was her chance. Luna rushed forward and tackled the Heartless knocking it over in the process. Raising the Heartless into the air, she swung it down with full force breaking the glass and releasing the tiny shards from it. The Heartless itself was also destroyed by doing so releasing the case onto the ground.

Shiki ran up to Luna in excitement, "We did it!"

Luna looked at her hands, the timer was gone. While she grinned at their success she knew this also meant that the Reapers had been keeping a very close eye on the players. Even now, they were being watched.

* * *

Wondering who the Reapers are running the operation (other than Kitaniji)? Don't worry if your favourite doesn't show up by the way (we all know who). I have something in mind for them later.


	6. Dream Seeker Pt1

Back with another chapter for the day and the story can only keep on getting better from here. Speaking of which, better get back to working on the next few chapters :D

* * *

Chapter 6

Dream Seeker Pt. 1

Of all the buildings lit up in one particular district, one was the exception. The darkness enveloped those standing in one of the rooms of that building helping to conceal their faces however there were at least four of them in the room, their figures barely being made out. While three of them were gathered around a table talking amongst themselves, the fourth convinced them to be left out of the procedures and instead had his eyes trained on the town before him. In a month or two, this world would cease to exist if the Reapers' plan went through without a hitch. While the man at the window wasn't exactly a part of the group, he had been interested in seeing the results and so agreed to help them. After all, without the power of the Heartless they would be nowhere right now.

"I think it's time for a Player erasure massacre, don't you Mitsuki?" The man known as Kitaniji asked who had a grin forming on his lips.

A woman smirked and took her glasses off. After using a cloth to clean it she pushed them back on and replied while keeping a devilish grin, "Why I do think you're right. Which Heartless would you prefer?"

She slipped her hands into her breast pocket and pulled out a card. She threw the card at Kitaniji's way who caught it with ease.

"The best kind naturally." Kitaniji told her as he examined the card and smiled. The tower.

"You finished playing cards now? What Heartless would you like?" The man in the cloak looking out of the windows suddenly spoke up after what was ten minutes silence.

"Oh, you can speak? And don't worry your pretty little face about it yet. The next mission is tomorrow." Mitsuki Konishi told him.

"I'll try not to." The man replied with a smile as he went back to window gazing.

The last person in the room who had not said anything either for a while soon jumped in to question the hooded figure, "What about the boy- with the Keyblade?"

The man paused to consider his next words before speaking, "Well... That's where the fun begins, isn't it?"

* * *

"Not now Shiki. I need to go to the item shop in the first district." Luna shrugged the rather squeaky at the moment girl badgering her to get new clothes. Isn't wasn't that she didn't need them with the way she looked right now, in fact she could pretty much pass as homeless the way she looked, however it wasn't her main priority right now.

"Why can't you go to one of the ones in this district?" Shiki questioned with the tone of a puppy once again for what had seemed to be the eleventh time that day. Luna shivered wondering how she was able to pull that off perfectly. _Lots of practise I guess. I gotta try that sometime. _

"Because they're not the one I need right now. I know the three siblings that work there and I'm kind of helping them out, or at least I was until this." Luna answered as they went up several steps leading to the north exit of the town and where the third district entrance was.

"Fine, but after that then. Promise?"

"Promise." Luna said smiling at her new friend. Hopefully she hadn't missed Scrooge yet. On her way to the door, she noticed a stunning lack in the presence of Heartless meaning more people had started coming out of their homes. Was there a set time when these Reaper Games began or maybe they had some other way of knowing when the games ended?

Luna conveyed her thoughts aloud to Shiki who smirked before replying, "My guesses are the Reaper games end at a certain time. They start whenever they like but end around midday to afternoon. Something to do with businesses profiting not just from normal players, but players who want to buy items like potions for the next mission."

Luna nodded agreeing with the preparation of items. She and Shiki would do well to buy them but there was only one problem, "I have no munny."

"Ahh, that won't be a problem. I have some from the tournament." Shiki answered confusing Luna.

"Sorry? The tournament?"

"You're not from this world are you?" Shiki asked stopping in her tracks and looking into the sky.

"World? What are you talking about? If you've already forgotten about the memory thing how about I conk you on the head so you can remember." Luna remarked giving Shiki a small bump on the head with her palm.

"Hey, I didn't forget," Shiki said as she giggled, "Just that you're like many others around here. They came from worlds far away when they were destroyed. Maybe that's how you ended up here?"

Luna considered the possibility of one of these people even knowing her. It would be very little and besides, there were too many to ask, "I suppose it's possible. Wait- does that mean that the place where I came from was destroyed then?"

"Could be." Luna sighed upon hearing this. She wasn't even exactly sure what these worlds were but she seemed to pick up that they were places other than this town.

"So do you know much about any of the worlds?" She asked and her head dropped when she saw Shiki shake her head.

"Don't worry about. I'm sure someone knows more than I do."

Luna nodded, "Yeah, I think the guy- um... duck I'm going to talk to has the answers hopefully."

The rest of the journey was sped up by Luna suggesting that she and Shiki run for the first district. She was so nervous about the many possibilities that could come out of this meeting with the tycoon. She really needed to tone down her expectations though just in case. Chatter filled the way about Shiki's daily life including how she had been taught by her friend she had mentioned before to make clothes.

"So I'm guessing the clothes you're wearing are designed by you?" Luna found herself asking as they entered the third district. It was a fairly short distance now since the third district was relatively small however surprisingly it was very empty considering the lack of Heartless about right now. Maybe the third district wasn't very popular except for passing by and through.

"Correctomundo. It took me a while but I think it turned out great. I'm planning to be a fashion designer when I'm older, well... if I make it out of this. It's my dream..." Her last words drifted away along with the wind as her eyes suddenly focused on the ground instead.

Luna studied Shiki's features carefully. She'd be darned if she let the girl who told her to hold on die before she did, "You will. I'll make sure of it."

Shiki smiled turning her head to Luna, "Actually, we'll both make sure of it, together right?"

Luna grinned at this statement, "That's a promise for sure."

Luna had never remembered making any promises to anyone however she thankfully knew the concept and why not start now? _I'm going to have to put in the extra work to make this work. _Luna thought to herself defiantly as the exited the long-winded alley out into the open square.

"Do you remember having any dreams Luna?" Shiki asked back to her usual cheery self.

"If by dreams you mean aspirations then no. But I guess it's possible to have a dream to have dreams right?" Luna asked frowning at herself. As she thought it would be, it sounded very weird.

"I think I get the gist of what you're saying. Can't help you there though since it has to be something you'd enjoy yourself. I can't influence you on anything or anyone else." Shiki answered slowly.

"Something I'd enjoy..." Luna repeated in understanding. That would be easy if she had anything to enjoy. Luna pushed forward the doors the first district and entered. It seemed as crowded as when she had first laid her eyes upon the town, "Hey Shiki, how come there are barely any people in the third district?"

"That's where the Heartless attack the most along with the second. Even though the Reapers' control the Heartless and end their activities at a certain time, they still come out anytime they feel like." Shiki explained as they neared closer to the item shop. As they were walking to the item shop, they turned their heads to a large crowd near the cafe surrounding a man standing on the podium. Chants of 'Get the Players away from the innocents' and 'hunt the Reaper and player scum' filled the air. Luna and Shiki gave each other a look of unease and walked at a faster pace.

"I'm sorry dearie, haven't seen you before as far as I can remember. But then I pass a lot of ye youngins on my way these days." Scrooge replied after listening to Luna's story. Luna and Shiki had walked the item shop just a few minutes ago and no sooner had they done so than Scrooge McDuck had offered both of them Chocolate crunch ice cream made by the duck himself.

Luna smiled sadly as she took a bite of her ice cream, "It's okay. I'm just wondering how I came to lose them in the first place. So, can you tell me more about this world?"

"I'd be glad to. Most people here are actually from other worlds which have been lost to the darkness by the Heartless. Normally I wouldn't be able to journey to this world since the gates between the worlds are closed and my one isn't actually destroyed. Though with the help of an ole' wizard's magic I was able to get here with my nephews." Scrooge snickered as he continued to pace backwards and forwards.

"A wizard? Where is he right now?" Luna asked taking interest in the man. Maybe he knew answers about her past or could help her.

"Merlin's his name and he should be at Radiant Garden, another world similar to this. He'll be coming to pick me and my nephews back by tomorrow once I finished my business here." Scrooge finished pacing and turned his attention fully back to Luna and Shiki. Huey, Dewey and Louie had soon come out of the stock room and sat on the counter where Shiki and Luna were currently sat. The three ducks had questioned Luna about her new friend before she met up with Scrooge citing it as strange that she had already became friends with someone after not even a day. They soon shrugged it off after Luna had told them not to worry about it although she could still tell they had their suspicions.

"What are these gates between worlds?" Shiki asked curiously.

Scrooge cleared his throat before explaining, "Ah, well I guess I should start by saying that this town is made of fragments from other worlds. They seem to make their way to this point in particular though I can't really think of any reason for that but you saw that there are new districts here right lass?"

Shiki nodded her head, "Yeah, they're pretty new right?"

"Exactly, but they weren't here before. They were added to this world when the fragments of other worlds were lost to the darkness recently. When they are lots of them they compile together and form a new part of this world, or district. Somehow Traverse Town can attract pieces of various worlds lost and store them in its core. It's a very special case and completely genius really." Scrooge remarked. He seemed to be getting more excited as he talked and Luna couldn't help but wonder if he would explode from it soon.

"Fragments? This is a lot to take in." Luna replied taking another bite of her ice cream. The chocolate melted onto her tongue and she smiled at how good it tasted.

"Hehe, that's only the skim of it. I could tell you a lot more but I'm afraid I'm not very knowledgeable about the subject. Alas you'd have to ask the king."

Luna and Shiki gave each other a look from the corner of their eyes before saying at the same time, "The King?"

"Aye, Mickey and I had once travelled across the worlds using a Gummi Ship. I wanted to set up a highway system which would allow all worlds to mingle with each other and even travel. It was supposed to get past the walls separating the worlds. Unfortunately when the Heartless started appearing over 10 years ago in masses, we had to stop travelin'." Scrooge answered.

Shiki huffed and pulled out Mr Mew from her bag. Giving it a tight hug she looked up at the ceiling, "Oh boy, this is _so_ not making sense for me right now."

"Did you come from another world lass?" Scrooge asked turning his head to Shiki.

Shiki shook her head frantically, "No, I was born here. My parents might be a different story though. I've never really asked them about it, or they've never told me."

"Don't worry, I bet when your world is restored then you'll get to see it for the first time with your own eyes, like a new born babe." Scrooge assured her as Shiki took another bite of her ice cream.

"Do... do you think that's what happened to my world as well? It got swallowed by the Heartless so I ended up here?" Luna said putting the pieces together. If that was the case then maybe she really had no chance of finding her home again.

"That seems to be a safe guess. I here though from my nephews that you're planning on working here at least until you find out more about yourself?" Scrooge asked to confirm.

Shiki looked at Luna, with her eyebrows giving off a questioning look. "You did?"

"Uh, I- I did yeah. Oops, sorry that I forgot to tell you." Luna said hoping to laugh it off. It seemingly managed to work as well because the topic at hand quickly turned to Luna's clothing once again. Scrooge had been the one to bring it up and almost immediately Shiki had started talking about things such as trends and designers whom Luna had never heard off or had the interest in learning about them. It wasn't long before Luna found herself being ushered out the door and to the clothing store in the second district.

* * *

Neku Sakuraba was not one to converse much with others but he realised that now it was more important than ever to do so. Standing in the middle of the third district, he carefully examined every inch of the fantastic graffiti art displaying the words 'CAT' boldly and brightly. The variety of colours matched only what Neku could hope to be, although he never really made an effort to try.

"The only one I should have to look out for is me right? Everybody else has their own problems," Neku said as he traced his finger over the paint, "And I have my own. But at the same time, I need to survive this game so I'll need to find a partner and quickly."

"You sure that's all you'll be needing Neku?"

Neku sighed and shook his head while smiling, "What are you talking about Joshua?"

Walking in from down the steps leading to the second district, Joshua flicked a bit of his hair back and then shoved the hand into his pocket, "You always talking to yourself? You sure that doesn't get a bit lonely?"

"I did ask you if you wanted to be my partner but you refused remember?" Neku shrugged as he turned his attention back to the art.

"Oh right. It only happened an hour ago didn't it? Anyway, I can't be your partner, at least not right now, but I can be your friend." Joshua said closing in on Neku.

"Friend, huh? Don't be ridiculous. I've only just met you not to mention I have no need for friends. All I want is a way out of the Reapers' Game and if you can offer one then I you might as well say bye bye right now." Neku replied deciding it was better to be in one of the more crowded districts where he wasn't likely to be bombarded by this guy.

Joshua giggled before rolling his eyes, "Listen there... partner? Everyone needs companionship sometimes or else we never see the world as it truly is."

"The world? There are multiple worlds Joshua. More than you or I can even contemplate each with their own destinies and stories and quite frankly, I don't want a part in any of it. Losing Shibuya was enough. You said you lived there as well, you should know."

Joshua shook his head before starting, "Once again Neku you fail to see the bigger picture. It's true that I was born in Shibuya but what makes that any different from any of the other people who have lost their worlds? We're all under one sky regardless if there are walls dividing our worlds and so we share the same destiny as well.

"It's not just for the worlds themselves, but the common individual as well. While we may live in our own separate worlds, at heart we're all connected and as long as you keep the concept in mind, the world's borders can expand. You see you're never really limited by borders. You're only as limited as you allow it to be."

"Are you finished yet? As I said before, if you're not going to help stay out of my way." Neku said stretching his muscles.

"Will you at least think about what I said?"

Neku paused for a moment, "I'll think about it."

"Oh, looks like you may have a few players coming your way." Joshua remarked as he watched Sora, Beat and Rhyme coming out of the long alleyway from the fourth district.

Neku turned his head to the three coming over and walked over to meet them.

"Oh hey, I'm Sora and this is Beat and Rhyme. What do ya need?" Sora greeted the two of them cheerfully.

"I'm looking for a partner. Any of you free?" Neku asked.

"Sorry phones. I'm with Rhyme and Sora ain't a player." Beat answered placing his hand on Rhyme's shoulder.

"Phones? It's Neku and its fine. You didn't seem that competent anyway." Neku closed his eyes.

"Bwahhhh! Take that back yo!" Beat spat back him.

Sora sensing that some sort of argument was about to take place cut in, "Hey, both of you just calm down. Listen there Neku, that wasn't nice saying that to him. It seems like you have some kind of grudge against him or something just because he said he couldn't."

Neku sighed, "I guess I'm just desperate right now. The game ends in a few days and if I don't survive I'll never be able to see another day again. Sorry if I came off as rude."

Regardless Neku said no more and instead turned around and started walking back to the first district.

"Hey wait. I was wondering if you've seen a girl with red hair or a tall guy with long silvery hair around." Sora enquired.

"Not sure about your friend with the silver hair but as for the girl. I might have seen her. She was wandering around with a brown haired girl in this district the last time I saw her." Neku answered.

"Right, thanks." Sora said happy that at least one of his friends might be here.

Neku exited through the door to the first district while Sora and the other stayed to converse with one another. Joshua was the first to speak up after Neku had left the district, "My name is Joshua, nice to meet you Sora."

"Uh, hi I guess. Wait, how do you know my name? I don't recall telling you." Sora asked curiously.

"Oh, a little bit here, a little bit there. The important thing to know is that I move around a bit." Joshua answered shrugging his shoulders.

"Sooo... you're a stalker then?" Sora guessed however Joshua didn't look offended. If anything he laughed it off.

"Not really. I mean if you saw two people wandering around rooftops out of the other how many knows people on the ground, wouldn't you be suspicious?"

_Hard to argue against that, _Sora thought as he put his hands behind his back.

"I guess we were a bit too obvious huh Sora?" Rhyme piped in giggling which Sora returned with a rather dry smile.

"Could you do me a favour Sora? I know you're not a player but at least try to look out for Neku when he's in danger? It might help to show him the meaning of friendship as well." Joshua told him turning his back as if he was about to walk off.

"Sure, no problem." Sora grinned as he watched Joshua wave behind him as he walked off to the second district.

"So yo, what're planning to do next?" Beat asked after no sign of Joshua could be seen or heard.

"I need to find my friends." Sora answered.

"Then we'll help you. It's the least we can do after what you did for me." Rhyme said defiantly. Beat joined in folding his arms and appearing as if he was minding his own business.

"Hahaha, Beat your face." Sora laughed screwing up his face to imitate Beat's own.

"Ha, Beat trying to act tough is pretty hilarious, huh?" Rhyme snickered inciting a moan from Beat.

"Ah man, not again yo!"

The day drew on as Beat and Rhyme helped Sora to find Riku and Kairi. Their best chance had been when Sora was wondering around the first district and had come across Huey, Dewey, Louie and Scrooge in the item shop. After telling the three that Scrooge had come with the help of Merlin, Sora had asked about Kairi and Riku using the same descriptions as before although Scrooge did know Riku from his previous visits to Radiant Garden.

"Ah I haven't seen Riku around here, but as for the red headed one she came here just recently along with another girl. Now what were there names again?" Scrooge pondered.

"The other one was Luna, remember Unca Scrooge?" Huey reminded Scrooge who clicked his fingers after hearing the name.

"Ah, of course Luna. She's working here now so if you stick around for a while she might come back." Scrooge told Sora.

"Thanks, I'll just explore the rest of Traverse Town for a while if you don't mind." Sora said. After that, Beat and Rhyme left to buy supplies for their next missions leaving Sora to find out what had changed in the town. Since he had last been here, more fragments of other worlds had been added to the town therefore changing its layout. While there hadn't seemed like much had changed in any of the first two districts. A new alley had appeared in the third which led to the fourth. As well as that, two other districts had surfaced which Sora needed to check for signs of Kairi and Riku just in case the person Scrooge had seen had been someone else. Sora had been checking out the second district when he spotted Neku down below sitting on the bench.

Sora jumped down and leaned against the wall, "Hey, have luck finding a partner yet?"

"What do you think?" Questioned Neku not really wanting to know the answer.

"You know, Joshua told me that you aren't much of a fan of friends."

"So Joshua put you up to this huh?" Neku muttered closing his eyes in frustration.

"What? Joshua didn't tell me to do anything." Sora lied shifting his eyes away from the other spiky haired teen.

"Whatever. Whether you want to admit it or not is none of my business." Neku said slouching a bit and placing his hands in his pockets.

Sora sighed and turned back to Neku, "Okay, maybe Joshua did tell me to look out for you. But why are you so hesitant about making friends Neku?"

"Don't need 'em. I do much better off by myself anyway." Neku's voice lowered as he talked to the point where it could barely be heard. Sora had to lean in a bit to hear some of what Neku had said.

"But what about when you do need someone? Friends are there to support you and have fun with you as well." Sora answered smiling.

These words seemed to anger Neku though because the second Sora finished was the moment he burst out yelling, "Fun? What fun? This is supposed to be fun? Being entered in game of life and death where you don't know what dirty tricks the hosts will pull of next? I used to come from a town called Shibuya until it was destroyed by Heartless," Neku's voice calmed as he sat upright, "When you have friends, you have to share their pain, their agony. It's just baggage on top of your own. You start to become emotionally attached to them and that's when it goes all downhill. I had friends in my world but when it was destroyed I knew I had to let go of that baggage before it pulled me down too."

Sora however would have none of it and instead shook his head, "You can stop right there. Is that really how you feel? 'Cause I'm sure there are those out there who do care for you and want you to share your feelings with them. You just told me your feelings and that's a good thing. I mean, in a normal circumstance I probably wouldn't be able to understand what you were feeling but I do, because I've felt the same way before but with the help of my friends, I was guided to the light. You see Neku? Friends are great not just for having fun but for sharing things with each other and getting them through thick and thin." Sora beat his chest proudly and then he did something which Neku didn't expect. Sora offered his hand to him.

"Sora just... who are you?" Neku asked. Why did he feel lighter?

"A Keyblade Master... and more importantly, a friend." Sora finished off with a smile still holding his hand out for Neku to take it. Accept it.

"Really? A friend? We've barely even met for a few minutes and already you're calling me that? You're weird." Regardless of what he said Neku smiled. His first smile in a long time. He extended his hand to meet Sora and was about to touch it when a few Heartless spawned in front of the two.

"Neku, I'll take care of this. You go somewhere safe." Sora said summoning his Keyblade. Neku nodded and headed off but stopped a few metres before turning back and saying, "Be careful Sora."

Sora smirked as a response and watched Neku wondered off before getting into his battle stance. Sora counted at least five of them, the most threatening being two Large Bodies which Sora had found to be quite annoying on his previous journeys, at least until he learned to hit them with magic. Accompanying the large bodies were three Air Soldiers, also annoying when since they flew around without pause and could strike him from anywhere because of this feature. Sora threw a fire spell knocking one of the large bodies onto the ground and then started to repeatedly hurl his Keyblade at the Air Soldiers above him. The first dodged the attack however it managed to hit the one behind him taking him out. The Keyblade flew back to Sora connecting with the one that dodged and taking that one out as well. The second large body took the chance to throw himself at Sora knocking the Key bearer into a wall. The Keyblade fell from its boomerang-like state onto the ground a few metres from Sora's current position. Detaching himself from the wall, Sora summoned his Keyblade quickly enough to guard against a punch from the last air soldier. He then proceeded to counterattack, knocking the flying Heartless out of the air and into oblivion. The first large body, who had recovered from the fire attack, had gotten back on its feet and dived straight for Sora. Sora took this opportunity to use his Keyblade as a hook and attached it to the swerving large body. Spinning it around, he flung it straight back towards its counterpart. The two collided successfully taking out both of the Heartless quickly and efficiently much to Sora's delight.

Sora grinned at his combat skills happy that he hadn't gotten too rusty since six months. Then again Riku had been kicking his behind one too many times for him to be slacking off. Hopefully he would be back to full form soon enough.

"Right, need to head back to the first district where Scrooge and the others are waiting." Sora said putting his Keyblade away and running off.

* * *

Luna was surrounded by darkness, on a lone road with a path only leading forwards. Looking backwards she found the path behind her gone. Where was she? She called out into nothing only to hear her nothing in response. Knowing that she could move nowhere but onwards, she progressed along the path her eyes wandering around nervously. It was no sooner than a while later that Luna realised that what seemed like she had walked a thousand miles had only been a few steps that she had taken and she collapsed onto the ground staring with blank expression down at the ground below her. It was so cold... so lonely. She could feel the flames of her heart flickering out fast as darkness over took her body. And then, she saw it. A light in the darkness. What appeared to be a lone star was looming up above in the just as black sky. She felt lighter, warmer, as the flame inside her rekindled. And she got up and mustering enough strength managed to start off a nice jog to reach the star.

And then Luna woke up, it was a place she had never really been to before. What a strange dream. Was she even in Traverse Town anymore? Getting up she dusted herself and looked down on her new clothes. She was wearing Mini jeans with black leggings covering her legs. She had also brought nicer trainers with help from Shiki who seemed to have the intention of staying in the shop for a while if not forever had Luna not dragged her out of the store in time. As for the upper half of her body she hadn't really changed that much about it except for the additional denim jacket over her white shirt.

"Now why am I here? The last time I was outside a shop near the second district... that's right! I fainted all of a sudden! But why? That dream as well felt really strange like it had really happened. What was that about? And where's Shiki?" Luna examined the area around her. It looked like a cave with water running through it leading to a wall with a picture of a moon on it.

"Luna! There you are. Phew, I'm glad I came here first." Luna heard Shiki's voice getting louder.

Luna turned to the source of the noise and smiled as her friend arrived by her side, "How did I get here? Weren't we near the shop last time?"

"Oh right. They sometimes do this and teleport you to a different place in the town before the start of the next mission. So another day has passed." Shiki answered.

"So we're still in Traverse Town? Wait... I've slept for a day?" Luna said absolutely stunned, so much in fact that her mouth was left open.

"Heh, might wanna do something about that and yeah, you have. Such a bummer right?" Shiki said sighing before checking her phone, "Strange, no missions. I usually get some around this time too."

"Let's just get out of here first then we can figure out what to do?" Luna said moving quickly for the exit. Shiki followed her while constantly looking up and down from her phone. Apparently the Reaper who made Luna a player wanted to give her as much of a bad time as possible since she hadn't even received a phone like other players, at least that's what Luna and Shiki had both concluded yesterday. They finally emerged into the alley behind the hotel to come face to face with a lot of Heartless in their way.

"We need to head to the first district, just go for the ones ahead of you and forget the rest." Luna advised moving in behind Shiki. Shiki nodded pulling Mr. Mew out of her bag and throwing it right at the first Heartless smacking it in the face. The stuffed cat came to life immediately and pushed through the Heartless knocking them aside and clearing a path for the two girls to proceed. They managed to reach the door to the second district with ease however before the two could open it, a shadow jumped at Shiki. Luna, just barely catching it from the corner of her eye raised her arm to Shiki's back taking the scratch from the Shadow before kicking it away from her.

"Luna! Are you okay?" Shiki asked worried.

Luna winced as she responded, "Just a scratch, no worries. Just go through the door quickly."

Shiki nodded forcing the door open and stepping through. Luna clutched her arm and walked backwards through the door closing it behind her. Turning, she immediately bumped right in to Shiki.

"Really Shiki? Again? Shiki are you even listening to- oh dear."

There had been a reason Shiki stood petrified as she looked at the black hooded figure in front of her holding Mr. Mew. This likely was the same man who had told her the hint about the Bulky Vendor. Luna quickly shook out of her stupor and pointed at the man, "Let it go!"

"I had no idea it was yours. I'm waiting for her to respond." The man told her focusing his attention on Shiki.

"Please. Give it back." Shiki yelled.

"Fine then. Here it is." The figure threw the cat towards Shiki who opened her arms to catch it. Unfortunately what came next was unexpected for both Luna and Shiki. Soon after Mr. Mew had been thrown into the air, a fire spell was also thrown in its wake setting the cat on fire. Shiki cried out loud as Mr. Mew burned, its eyes staring deep into Shiki's own. Its arm reached for Shiki's face before falling limp.

Luna's mouth trembled as she looked between the two contrasting characters in front of her. She soon finally cried out venomously, "You monster!"

The man laughed before throwing his arms into the air, "You might want to consider what you're saying before you say it." A portal appeared in the air above him and out scuttled a giant purple spider with an emblem on its underbelly. Luna grabbed Shiki's arm and pulled her away from her spot as the spider landed on the ground and the portal disappeared.

"Meet the Leaper Creeper, your next Reaper mission and a Heartless which all players and non-players alike of this world will soon come to fear. If only they were to live long enough for it to settle inside their hearts. How about a head start?" The man said counting down with his fingers. Luna clutched Shiki's hand tightly and ran for the first district. She could literally feel Shiki's weight holding her down as she struggled for the door with the poor girl. She couldn't even think properly as she could almost feel the eyes of the man glaring like daggers at the back of her head. As soon as she made it out of the second district, she had realised immediately that where she shouldn't have come here. But it was already too late because just then, there was a pounding on the second district door.

* * *

Yay, cliffhangers! Don't we just all love those? Next part is a pretty action based chapter coming up, but also shorter than this chapter. But in the meantime thank you for the reviews and keep 'em coming.


	7. Dream Seeker Pt2

This is the last chapter I have written up, so time to write some more. Most likely you'll be seeing the next chapter next week once I'm done with so far now have fun and please review.

* * *

Chapter 7

Dream Seeker Part 2

Eighteen hours had passed and Sora was no closer to finding Riku or Kairi than he had been before. After being told from Scrooge that the red head and her friend hadn't returned the night before, Sora began to fear for their safety, not because one of them might have been Kairi but because they could have been taken by the Heartless. The task of finding the two by himself was seemingly impossible considering the size of the town. The fourth district in particular being the longest district was ridiculously crowded that searching for anyone would pretty much be a negative and then there was Neku, Joshua, Beat and Rhyme who Sora had not even seen after who had taken on the Heartless after meeting up with the former. He had searched all over the place but had found nothing. The worst part was that Neku could not have gone too far after they had separated as the fight hadn't lasted that long and Sora definitely recalled Neku heading for the first district. He of course took occasional rests, but his sleep was always put off by his thoughts of the Destiny Islands being destroyed, Riku, Kairi and the mysterious man. Eventually he found he couldn't sleep and instead went to search a bit longer. During what was considered the night in Traverse Town, he searched in the fifth district which wasn't as big but still a considerable bigger than other districts. After extracting information from other passer bys that this was where the Mayor of Traverse Town lived, Sora had tried to pay a visit to the house only to be blocked by guards. He also discovered that there were a lot of factories here such as chocolate factories and factories that supplied energy to the other districts. Soon enough, he had just decided to go back to the hotel and try to get even a slither of sleep. The only place he had not explored was the sixth district, where the coliseum was as well as the alleyway behind the hotel.

"Still no sign of them? This is ridiculous." Sora muttered as he checked the underground waterway and Merlin's deserted house. It was more of a nostalgic trip really as he hadn't been here since he was fourteen. He imagined that right about now Merlin and Cid were having fights of magic and technology. Chuckling at the thought, Sora exited the house and left through the third district. Just as he entered he spotted a huge Heartless which looked like a Spider attack someone although it wasn't anyone that he knew. Sora saw their heart rise into the air and their body disappearing before summoning his Keyblade. Before he could charge at the Creeper, the spider sensed Sora and shot a web at the wielder. Sora dodged out of the way keeping his eyes on the creature.

"This might take a while."

The Creeper extended one its hairy legs out to Sora who knocked it back rather fiercely. The small arena of the third district made it harder to manoeuvre around but it was also same for the Heartless who was bigger compared to Sora. Sora moved in between poles, wall kicking of the area's walls and other things to get out of the way of the Creeper's attacks.

"Hey Sora! We're here to help." A voice shouted behind Sora. He turned around to see Neku with Beat and Rhyme trailing just behind.

"Am I glad to see you guys! I looked everywhere for you. Where were you?" Sora inquired happily glad that they hadn't been erased.

"Yeah well, the Reapers have some funny idea of teleporting us to different places sometimes. It wack yo." Complained Beat rolling his eyes before pulling a Skateboard from his back.

"Don't worry Sora. We got your back ain't that right Neku?" Rhyme added in getting into her battle position.

"Hmph. Damn straight it is." Neku smiled subtly as he repositioned his headphones on his head.

Sora grinned before once again assuming his battle stance, "Great! More is help is good help. Let's do this."

* * *

"Shiki, you alright? Listen, we need to warn every to get into their homes right now." Luna said putting an arm around the girl.

"It's okay. It's just that my friend, the one I told you about earlier, had given it to me as a present. And all this time I wanted to be like her and went so far as to ignore her sometimes... I'm a horrible friend, aren't I Luna." Shiki said chuckling.

Luna smiled, "Don't put yourself down. That's the last thing we need right now. And besides, you can apologize to her when you make it out of this alive,"

Shiki nodded although Luna could tell she was still quite out of it. Another thud was heard on the door soon after alerting them back to the Leaper Creeper who was no doubt going to rip both of them apart if it caught up, "Shiki, head to the item shop and warn Scrooge and the others. I'll alert the rest of the people in this district."

"Okay, meet me near the item shop when you're done, 'kay?" Shiki said with worry.

"Gotcha." Luna said rushing off quickly while Shiki went in the opposite direction. The task was rather daunting however Luna soon managed to convince everyone to get into their houses or get away from the district. Of course there was always the minor annoyance every now and then.

"Sir, you need to get inside your house right now. A Heartless is trying to get into the district." Luna found herself warning an old man, one of the last people still outside at one point.

"Ah don't worry about them. I'll handle them with my magic and what not." The old man replied slamming his fist on the table of the cafe. Currently he was sitting down being served coffee, which when he had first be introduced to Luna as Strago, she was told it had been rather unusual to find him drinking 'a rather disgusting drink' as described by the old man himself.

"How many times do I have to tell ya old man? Stop drinking out your sorrows and listen to Luna." Strago's granddaughter Relm stepped in to the conversation tapping her foot impatiently.

"Just a minute Relm darling. I need something to drown out the sorrows of loss." Strago took another sip of his coffee slightly shivering at the bitter taste.

"What's got him all upset?" Luna asked the younger girl who shook her head in response.

"Something about his precious treasure being stolen. I don't even know what's in it."

"Well it has to be valuable then right? Anyway, listen can you do me a favour Relm?"

Relm nodded and Luna leaned in to whisper into her ear. After a few giggles exchanged between the two, Relm eventually nodded and dragged the Strago by the ear out of his seat towards the third district.

"Well gramps, it's time to draw something and you're the subject. See ya around Luna." Relm called back to the brunette who waved back smiling.

"Right, I alerted Scrooge and the others." Shiki informed as Luna came up to her after finishing her rounds.

"Right, now we need to get out of here. Should we stay with Scrooge and the other three?" Luna proposed rubbing her hands together quickly. The cold night air was beginning to settle in, or was that just nerves?

"Anything's better than staying in this district. Scrooge said Merlin was coming to pick him up later today but there's too much time. We don't stand a chance with that thing on our backs." Shiki told her staring intently at where the second district door was. The banging had seemed to stop quite a while ago.

Luna cited her thoughts to the more aware Shiki, "You think he's just playing with us? I'm pretty sure it could have gotten in now if it wanted to."

The red head shook her head frantically, "He might be after other players as well, not just us. Let's head to the fourth district and warn everyone there, that is if it hasn't gotten to there yet."

"Actually I'm more inclined to run away but sure I guess we can go." Luna laughed nervously and gulped. She knew it was wrong but she couldn't but feel that it was very likely that the Leaper Creeper already had gone to the fourth district. After all, what place was any more suited than one in which a lot players lived?

Before Luna and Shiki could open the third district door, Soldiers and a Large Body surrounded them. The Large Body in particular blocked most of the door.

"This makes no sense! We don't have any missions today unless my phone is broken or something. Uh, dying battery maybe?" Shiki said checking her phone once again.

"You're checking that now? Of all times? If you haven't noticed yet we're kind of in the middle of something here." Luna cried out annoyed.

Shiki pocketed the phone before looking at the enemies around here, "Well you have to admit. It's pretty stylish."

"Says the girl that's easily impressed by everything." Luna muttered to herself shaking her head in disapproval.

"Sorry, did you say something?" Shiki asked to which Luna replied with a no. Knocking their way past the Soldiers, Luna and Shiki ran past the Heartless group towards the door to the second district. If they couldn't get to the third district from the first they may as well make a straight sprint to the second district then to the third. As it were, both of them were currently powerless so all they could was wait and hope. Heartless crept up from the ground left and right as they barged through the second district doors and down the steps to the square. As they passed, Shiki looked down at the now burnt Mr. Mew plushie laid on the ground. It's head torn off its body and its buttons missing. The smile it had once had on its face had also gone. No doubt the man in the coat had altered its form after it had burned, possibly as a warning to the two if they tried to come back.

Grabbing Shiki's hand and squeezing it tightly reassuringly, Luna proceeded to move quickly for the third district door ignoring the Heartless along the way. When they got to it however they found yet another Heartless, a wyvern blocking their way. It swooped in to attack the two of them but the both ducked in time to avoid its claws.

"Not this way," Luna said as the flying creature flew back to guarding the door, "A gift from that man in the cloak?"

"You think he's watching us right now? What a stalker," Shiki remarked causing Luna to laugh. It was amazing how even in this sort of situation the two managed to crack jokes. Shiki waited for Luna to die down on the laughing before offering a suggestion, "Actually, I think there's an alternate way to the third district. Follow me."

* * *

The fight drew on as Sora, Neku, Beat and Rhyme managed to deal a decent amount of damage on the Leaper Creeper. Sora wall kicked of one of the walls and spun his Keyblade into the Heartless managing to successfully connect before flipping and bringing his Keyblade down for a critical strike which knocked it away.

"Fire!" Rhyme repeated several times throwing magic after magic while it was down. Neku dashed into the attack it physically getting in a good combo before jumping back to shoot lightning bolts out of his palm. Beat rode with his Skateboard and slammed his wheels into the Heartless pulling off as many tricks as possible while doing it.

"Does he always show off like this?" Sora asked jumping back to talk to Rhyme.

"I could tell you the answer but then Beat would go-"

"Bwahhhh! Don't you dare answer that Rhyme. What do you mean like this? I think you can do better spiky, show me." Beat yelled back stopping his attack temporarily.

"It's SORA! And I'd be glad to show ya a thing or two." Sora responded just as loudly swinging his Keyblade and putting it behind him just like he did whenever he won a tournament in Olympus Coliseum. The Leaper Creeper soon got up and knocked Beat away from him sending him into a wall.

"Beat, you okay?" Rhyme asked keeping her attention on the boss.

"Ow! That... seriously... hurt... yo." Beat said clutching his face in pain.

"Rhyme, take Beat and go somewhere safe. Sora and I can handle this." Neku ordered rushing to Beat's side and helping him up.

"You guys going to be fine on your own?" Rhyme asked as she took Beat from Neku and swung his arm around her shoulder.

"Don't worry. Whatever he can throw, we can take." Sora grinned. Rhyme smiled before dragging the reluctant Beat away from the district.

The Spider clung to one of the walls and began to climb up it, shooting webs at the two continuously in an unexpected turn.

"It can climb walls? This is really not fair." Sora said to Neku, although he was actually smiling. He needed a change of pace anyway."

"I would have been surprised if it didn't to be honest." Neku replied dodging out of the way of a web.

Sora grinned after using fire magic to take out a web heading for him, "Shall we knock this thing back to earth then?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Neku said supplanting his usual no emotion with that of a mischievous smile.

Sora and Neku split up heading off in separate directions, Sora holding on to the walls of the arena while Neku saying close to the First district door. The Leaper Creeper watched the two carefully before it spun a web trailing across the night sky. It started to move spiralling its way from the wall to the middle of the arena with the help of the web it had created. When it was in an upright position it started shooting webs again but a lot faster this time. Neku had not anticipated this and was caught in the web before he could move out of the way.

"Neku!" Sora yelled at his currently trapped friend as he struggled to free himself of the silver lining. Unfortunately the brunette could only keep moving as the Creeper now only had one target to focus on making his job much easier. Sora jumped high enough to be at the same height as the Heartless before wall kicking of the arena and slide dived into it knocking it off its webs and sending it crashing to ground. Sora soon arrived with it, quickly steadying his balance before initiating several strikes with his Keyblade.

"When will this thing give up?" Sora growled jumping back as the Heartless got up.

Luna and Shiki had finally made it into the third district through means of a window on the roofs of one of the buildings in the second. Shiki looked down below where the two currently below and tapped Luna's shoulder quickly. Following the girl's finger, Luna soon came upon the Creeper and a boy with spiky brown hair who looked awfully familiar though it was possible she had encountered him somewhere else in the town.

"It's too late for here then unless we can sneak past it. Should we head back to Scrooge?" Shiki asked drawing back from the railings.

"Yeah, I guess we did what we could." Luna said before turning around to come face to face with three Soldiers blocking their way.

"Or not." Luna mouthed in a high pitch squeak to Shiki.

Before the two knew it, they were kicked hard off the veranda and fell to the ground level below.

Sora, who heard the screams up the two, looked up seeing two objects hurtling towards him. His natural instinct was to move out of the way but it was too late to follow through with it. Luna landed straight on top of Sora knocking him to the floor while Shiki fell of quite a few ways landing on the hard ground causing a moan of pain from the red head. All of them however, were seeing stars at the moment.

"I'm feeling a sense of Déjà vu here." Sora stated rather a bit too dizzily. Shaking his head he huffed as he could feel someone on top of him.

"Oh. Sorry about that," Luna apologised in a worried tone getting off Sora, "Are you alright?" She asked while helping him back up on his feet. She noticed something which was very familiar about him. It was the boy from her dreams! She cleared her throat choosing not to disclose this piece of information yet until she was absolutely certain.

"Just perfectly dandy," Sora replied sarcastically before inspecting Luna a bit more closely. Was she the blonde girl that Scrooge had mentioned? "Hey do you know a girl with red hair called Kairi?"

Luna shook her head, "Nope. The only girl with red hair I know is right there and her name is Shiki." She pointed over to the girl who sat on the ground rather clumsily scratching her hair.

"Yeah, definitely not Kairi then," Sora sighed before smiling once again, "So what are you two doing around here? Me and Neku are kinda in the middle of something at the moment." Sora told her pointing over to his other friend who was still struggling to get out of his binds.

"Shiki and I thought that we should help get everyone in the fourth district to safety since we saw this thing in the second district a while ago. The Leaper Creeper I think he called it?" Luna said rushing over to pick her friend up and drag her back over to where Sora was.

"Wait, you said he? What did he look like?" Sora said hastily turning his attention from the spider to Luna.

"Uh, he kind of had a black coat on. But his face was covered by a hood so I couldn't see his face."

_It's him. _Sora thought as he turned his attention back to the spider. "Listen, I need the two of you to get out of here. Go to fourth district and warn everyone else. I'll meet up with you once I'm finished with this, got it?"

"Right." Shiki replied grabbing Luna's arm.

"By the way, what's your name? Mine's Luna." Luna introduced.

"Sora." He grinned summoning his Keyblade. As Luna took one look at it, she became entranced. It was as if a whole lot of things which didn't make sense had come rushing through her head at once causing her to feel a bit tipsy.

"Luna, are you alright?" Shiki asked as she tried to steady her friend.

"Key... Key..." Luna said trying to find the words she wanted to say but she couldn't. She had seen that weapon before. In her dreams although it hadn't looked exactly like that. She could feel the breath of spider nearing towards her, hearing screams she couldn't quite comprehend at first although she thought they were calling her name. It was only once she finally shook out of her stupor that she realised that the Spider had been running straight at her. She screamed and covered her arms before a white light surrounded her. It took a moment for anyone to register what was going on. The Leaper Creeper had been knocked back to the ground far away from the three and in Luna's hand was a Keyblade. The one Luna had seen in her dream in the station. Dream Seeker.

"Woah! You have a Keyblade?" Sora asked in amazement and still quite a bit of shock at the same time.

"What? But I've never- How did I even summon it? Oh, I am so confused now." Luna said staring daggers at her new weapon.

"You think you can help me take care of this thing?" Sora asked Luna getting into his battle position.

"Uh... sure why not? I can try." Luna said looking over to Sora and copying his battle stance. She had absolutely no idea how to fight but why not start now?

Sora threw a fire projectile at Neku's way, splitting the web and allowing him to break free of his binds, "You two. Go back to the item shop and wait for us there okay?" Sora ordered the two who nodded immediately and headed off for the door. Looking back at the Creeper, Sora ran straight for it and attacked. Luna looked down at her Keyblade once again before smiling and also jumping in. Together, the two managed to pull off quick combos weakening their foe each time. Luna, the least experienced of the two, stuck to ground combos mainly. As she watched Sora she found herself stunned at how proficient he was with the weapon. Could it really do that much? If so, she had barely unlocked any of the thing's power so far.

"This thing isn't going down. Have any ideas?"

Luna was shaken out of her thoughts by Sora's voice just in time to knock back one of the Creeper's legs extending towards her. Looking around, Luna finally found something that could defeat it, "Maybe the electrical conduits over there, if we could lure it over..."

Sora looked over to what she was pointing at. It was the wiring under the lightning bolt sign which was connected to the Gizmo Shop over at the second district.

"Ah I see what you mean. Great thinking Luna." Sora grinned as threw another fire spell at the Creeper. Luna couldn't help but smile when she heard the compliment though she knew it wasn't over yet.

The boss stood up and scuttled straight over to Sora. It seemed as if its speed had increased since last time. Luna watched as Sora jumped over, slid and just parried each attack from the Spider.

"Oh, I so want to do that." She breathed in wonderment.

When he was close enough to the conduit, Sora dodged to the right as another leg came for him. The Creeper's leg connected with the wiring shocking the Heartless in its entirety. Sora jumped back to Luna's side and watched as the Heartless struggled to free itself from the wiring. It soon turned its head looking straight into Luna's eyes. And from those lifeless yellow eyes, Luna could have sworn that even for a second, she had seen a tear fall onto its hairy features before it summoned a portal and escaped into it, snapping the wires in the process.

"It escaped? That thing was tough!" Sora said sighing in relief.

"Yeah, it was." Luna agreed nonchalantly. Had she just seen the Heartless cry? Could they even do that?

"Now about that Keyblade of yours. You were chosen by the Keyblade then?" Sora asked as his Keyblade disappeared in his hand.

"Was I? I'm sorry. It's just that I've lost my memory. I can't really recall what happened before I arrived here." Luna told him. She watched her Keyblade disappear from her hand as well.

"Your memory's gone?" Sora paused for a while trying to think things out, "By any chance, can you tell me what happened when you arrived here?"

So Luna told him all about meeting the three ducks, staying at hotel (though leaving the dreams out), meeting the Reaper Kitaniji and becoming a Player, meeting up with Shiki and having conversation with Scrooge about the worlds. This discussion eventually took them right to the doors of the item shop.

"So then you're the ones who did that mission then? Ah thanks for that, me and a friend I know were panicking out about it when we lost the thing." Sora summed up laughing.

"No need to worry about it. Me and Shiki were kind of worried about it too." Luna smiled waving off the gratitude.

"Only kind of?" Sora asked folding his arms and leaning over in a way a teacher would to their pupil.

"Okay, we were absolutely terrified." Luna said playfully pushing him backwards. The two laughed together as they entered the shop to be greeted by the four ducks, Merlin, Shiki and Neku.

"Hey Merlin, Long time no see!" Sora exclaimed as he approached the old yet powerful wizard.

"Ah Sora! It's wonderful to see you again. Just in time actually. I'm afraid I have rather grave news." Merlin called over the confused boy towards him.

Sora walked over having a slightly different topic on his mind he wanted to bring out first, "What is it? Oh, first of have you seen Riku and Kairi anywhere in Radiant Garden?"

"Calm down lad, don't worry. Kairi is safely at my house along with Leon and the others. Interestingly enough, Pluto is also with her." Merlin explained.

Sora nodded his head in understanding, "Ah, well at least Kairi's all right. What about Riku?"

Merlin pushed his spectacles to the bridge of his nose, "That's what I was getting at. It seems that Disney Castle has been infiltrated. We received word from Yen Sid recently about it. Riku's already there investigating after I brought him there-"

"Then we have to go immediately!" Sora uttered maybe a bit too loudly causing everyone to jump.

"That's what I was about to say. After all, the King and everyone else in the Castle could be in danger at this instant." Merlin replied wisely.

"Oh... Right, well... I agree," Stammered Sora rather embarrassed before changing the subject, "Oh by the way Merlin. I'd like you to meet Luna. Luna, Merlin."

"Ah the pleasure's all mi- OH!" Merlin could only gawk in surprise as Luna summoned Dream Seeker in her hand.

Luna grinned, "Nice to meet you too Merlin. So all I have to do to summon the Keyblade is calling it to appear in my mind? Seems simple Sora."

"Uh huh and you'll probably get even faster at it." Sora agreed also grinning at not just Merlin but the four ducks' expression as well.

"By Arthur's sword, another Keyblade user? Why, this is excellent. Just wait until the- Oh, that's right. We need to hurry right away. Luna, you wouldn't mind accompanying us would you dear?" Merlin spluttered still quite amazed.

Luna thought it through. This was definitely the boy in the station in her dreams, no doubt about it. So she should follow him. But what about her being a player? And Shiki?

Sora sensing her apprehensiveness, told Merlin and the others instead about how Luna was a player in the Reapers' game and her partnering with Shiki.

After nodding his head several times Merlin smiled, "Well that shouldn't be a problem. Since a world's rules only affect its own and not others she should be free as long as it isn't this world."

Luna beamed and jumped up and down with excitement. She was going to visit another world. Why did this feeling feel so familiar? _Probably something I used to think about._ Luna thought as she turned to Shiki.

"So this is it huh?" Shiki said with a tone of disappointment in her voice.

Luna smiled shaking her head, "No. Listen to me Shiki. Partner up with... Neku was it? I'll get stronger and when I'm strong enough, I'll come back and free you," Luna then turned to Neku, "I'll free all of you, I promise. But until then, fight and survive."

Neku nodded, "I'll keep her safe. I promise you and... Sora? Don't forget about us. You made me remember what it was like to have friends again. Thanks for that."

"Don't worry about it! It's hard to forget a guy like you anyway." Sora snickered glad to know the broody teen had opened up.

"What? What's that supposed to mean?" Neku responded bewildered by Sora's statement.

"Look out for him will ya Shiki?" Sora requested grinning.

"Of course. It'll be nice getting to know ya Neku? Maybe have some fun along the way?" Shiki winked nudging him.

Neku glanced at the red head with wide eyes, "What are you even getting at? I feel like I'm with a pack of crazies. Is it too late to take back that friend thing?"

Everyone laughed along with each other, even Neku who felt absolutely embarrassed and had considered leaving at one point had managed to smile at least a bit.

"Right, it's time to go. You guys tagging along?" Luna asked the three ducks who all nodded in unison.

"Of course. It wouldn't be a party without us!" The three ducks chimed in causing Luna to giggle.

"Oh and before I forget, tell Rhyme, Beat and Joshua if you see them that we'll be back." Sora said to Neku who muttered what seemed to be a "Whatever" under his breath.

"Alright. Hold on tight, I'm about to teleport us to the Castle." Merlin said waving his wand around. Sora and Luna both waved to Neku and Shiki who waved back in return. They both knew that it wasn't a goodbye but simply a "We'll meet again" as the last glimmers of Shiki and Neku faded from sight.

* * *

The Reapers stood on top of the Gizmo Shop building displeased at the lack of chaos which had been incited from the released Heartless.

"What are you playing at? You haven't erased anyone with that Heartless of yours, is this supposed to be a joke to you?" Mitsuki Konishi said sharply turning her attention to the portal appearing to the side of the three Reapers.

"Oh please, you guys are such worry warts. You never look at the long term effects of things do you?" The man in the black hood replied closing the portal behind him.

"I take it you have a plan to fix this mess?" Kitaniji said clearly annoyed.

"Just calm down before you get wrinkles. Now didn't one good thing come out of this?" The man asked all of them. They turned their heads to each other all with puzzling looks.

Sighing, the man replied before answering for them, "You now know what type of threats you're going to be facing. Those Keyblades? They're special in pretty much every possible way. Now unless you intend to lose to the Keyblade Master and his friends, it's best you follow my instructions."

"And why should we follow you? We already have a leader." The third Reaper answered to the right of them, popping a cherry in his mouth in the process.

"Not to mention we have no reason to trust you. I mean, you've given us the Heartless but we haven't even seen your face." Konishi added in hastily.

"It's not the appearance which dictates the actions of a man, it's their heart... but if you want to see my face then I see no problem. I have nothing to hide." The man said and pulled the hood down revealing his face.

* * *

So next chapter will focus on Disney Castle as well a bit more on Riku's side so look forward to that and yes, Traverse Town will be back though it may take a while before you even see it again.


	8. Castle in Peril

Finally I get the chance to finish this chapter and I'll start of by saying that this is more of a character arc chapter with a lot of Riku and his interaction with the Disney characters however the majority of the story will be based on Sora and Luna's experiences so keep that in mind that you have much of these chapters with other main characters from the series but if these were to happen, they would be in original worlds like Radiant Garden.

Don't worry though, have a whole bunch of character development planned coming for other characters in the future so you'll eventually get your Kairi arc but until then, enjoy the story.

* * *

Chapter 8

Castle in Peril

The walls of Disney Castle were lonelier than Riku had ever seen them. As he walked through the hallway leading to the King's study he thought about his destroyed home and most importantly, where Sora was. Had he been swallowed by the darkness?

"No, what am I even thinking? Have more faith Riku." He told himself determined to find his friend after helping out the King and his other friends. Entering into the study Riku came across the royal magician and captain of the royal guard of Disney Castle along with Queen Minnie.

"Oh Riku, I'm so glad you're here. We can't find the King anywhere." Minnie told him almost in tears as she was being comforted by Donald and Goofy.

"When did you last see him?" Riku asked taking a look around. He only needed one sweep of the room before he could deduce what had happened. From what he saw, it had looked as if a fight had taken place in the room. Books and other objects were scattered or broken across the floor and even some of the paintings which accompanied the room were now hanging loosely from where they once were, with some even torn.

"Two days ago. It took a while to contact Yen Sid about it not to mention we pretty searched most of the town for him which took a day." Minnie informed him. Her rather tearful expression brought pain to Riku's heart, not only because of her but because Mickey had played a special part in his life as well.

"Have you checked the cornerstone yet?" Riku asked. The last time someone had invaded Disney Castle, it had been to capture the cornerstone in order to take over the castle.

"We were thinkin' along the same lines so me and Maxi went down to check on it. It's still there." Said Goofy with a worried expression clear as day on his face.

"So they're not after the castle? They only wanted the King? But why? Wait, who's Maxi?" Riku asked.

"Oh, Max is my son. Might take over as captain of the royal guard someday when he's ready." Goofy exclaimed excitedly bouncing up and down.

"Wow, you have a son? Why haven't you mentioned him before?" Questioned Riku.

"Aw well geez, I didn't feel I had to mention him at any point during our fight with Xehanort." Goofy answered however Donald shook his head.

"The real reason is cause he's Goofy." Donald piped in causing a chuckle from Riku.

After clearing his throat Riku tried to summarise what they had found out, "So a fight most likely took place pretty much exclusively to this room. Also the assailant seemed to only want Mickey and not the castle. I'm pretty sure they've taken him to another world. Did anyone catch a glimpse of the guy who attacked Mickey by any chance?"

Minnie shook her head, "No, it was a pretty silent and normal day that moment aside. Oh! Also Pluto's missing as well. Do you think he was kidnapped as well?"

Riku shook his head, "That or he just followed them. He's been known to do that. Trust me on that one," Riku crouched down looking directly into the Queen's eyes, "I promise you your majesty, I will bring Mickey back. Wherever he may be..."

But Minnie shook her head, "No need to promise me Riku. I already have good faith in you and I think Mickey knows that too."

Riku nodded, "Right, but for now you might want to increase the amount of guards you have. Just in case."

"Why of course." Minnie agreed now refreshed and smiling.

"You wouldn't mind if I check up on the cornerstone for a bit would you?" Riku asked and getting up when he received a nod from the queen.

"Of course. I'll open it up for you." Minnie said walking towards the door, opening it and moving onwards into the hallway. Riku, Donald and Goofy followed all deep in their own thoughts. Donald and Goofy wandering when they'd see the King again and Riku thinking of who possibly could have committed the act.

* * *

The rather dark and brooding room which had once been only used by Maleficent and Pete was now a round room filled with villains from different worlds, some who Maleficent had come in to contact with while others were found by Pete. She smiled grimly as she thought about finally taking the worlds from the wretched King and claiming the great Kingdom in the sky known as Kingdom Hearts. She knew though that if she were to defeat the Keyblade wielders once and for all she would need the help of a fresh new band of associates.

"So you're calling us back here? Didn't think I had enough did ya?" Captain Hook sneered raising his claw at Maleficent.

"I gave you a choice and you of course picked yes. After all, isn't that boy you speak off not a threat to you?" Maleficent asked not really caring for the pirate's tone.

"His name is Peter Pan and I will have his head if it's the last thing I do. The only reason I joined up is the take control of the blasted Heartless and what luck they did last time." Hook pounded his only hand on the circular table, the only object that seem to company the room other than the individuals in it.

"Heh, looks like someone's got their hands in a pickle. Oh wait, you only have one. Correction, hand." Hades said, his fiery appearance was probably the only thing keeping the dark room illuminated.

"How about I set that crocodile on you? I'm sure he wouldn't mind lighting your day up."

"Yeah, sorry but already alight here if you hadn't noticed. Alight with ideas of taking down Wonder boy for good? Hey you think if I through a crocodile at him, he might just, oh I don't know, swim like a fish... and just maybe sleep with 'em too?" Hades joked causing an eruption of laughter from one of the people beside him.

"Oh if that's your idea of good hunting then I don't think you're fit enough to be ruler of Olympus. Might want to try poison next time? I hear it works miracles!"

"Why Maleficent, I knew you were interested in taking over the world but I didn't know you were interested in clowns as well. I guess that's your idea of a good joke?" Another person in the room spoke up causing laughter from the villains.

"Oh like you can talk, if I didn't know any better I would say could be result of a cross breed between a monkey's uncle and a ballerina." The other one spat back causing another roar of laughter from the villains.

Maleficent however chose not to smile and she even stared daggers at Pete who immediately went from laughing like an idiot to being as quiet as a mouse in just under a second.

Turning her attention back to her subordinates she spoke in a calm manner, "Enough! Aren't the mad ones the most dangerous? And this clown is quite the mad one he tells me. I assure you of that because I have no time for jokes. We are more powerful than ever and with the Heartless on our side we will claim what is rightfully ours. I have already made the first step in capturing the King of Disney Castle. Perhaps you would all like to meet the guest of honour." Maleficent smiled as the crowd jeered. The door behind them opened and in came a mirror and behind push it was two of Maleficent's goons. Letting go, the minions huffed and puffed before Maleficent dismissed the two.

The crowd of villains laughed as Mickey's body appeared opposite to them knocking with frustration on the glass mirror as to break free from this different dimension he was in.

"Well, tell me your majesty. What is stopping me now from taking over your castle?" Maleficent asked glad for her moment of victory.

"You'll never win Maleficent. As long as my friends are there to stop you, you'll never take over my world or any others." The King replied stopping the relentless pounding of the mirror. He realised that it was pretty much useless and what would be required was patience, even if he wasn't exactly the best at that.

"I beg to differ. I will not make the same mistakes as last time just for you and your little sidekicks ruin them. I relied on your battle with Xehanort in order to serve as a distraction to enter the data worlds and recreate my own army of Heartless. Needless to say that plan did not work as I had planned," She turned her back to him looking out into the apocalyptic state of the world she had created before continuing, "But this time is different. What I had planned was not exactly wrong, but I had done so in a rushed manner without any help."

Pete tried to object to this but was quickly cut off by Maleficent, "This oaf certainly didn't help matters either."

Pete sighed at this in disappointment as Mickey tried to grasp the full situation of what Maleficent was saying, "What are you getting at Maleficent?"

Hades interjected between the two, "Hey, quiet pip squeak or would you like to play a game of cat and mouse? Or rather dog and mouse, because in the Underworld, I can arrange that for ya."

"Let's just mention this. I have a full command of the Heartless in my possession and this time I have full control over them. I will flood these worlds with darkness and even open the door where our reward shall be Kingdom Hearts." Maleficent finished raising her arms specifically at the words of the dominion that was soon to be hers.

Mickey smirked staring right into the evil fairy's eyes, "Uh huh. That's not gonna happen. Also where am I anyway?"

"You're in a mirror delivered to me by Pete from one of the princesses' worlds. I'd heard it had magical properties but I couldn't know for certain... until it was used on you." Maleficent said.

One of the other members of the group walked right up to the mirror and pushed it lightly with her finger causing it to wobble and so consequently Mickey as well, "But in the mean time, you can entertain us. What would happen if I broke the mirror, seven years bad luck?"

Mickey soon found his balance and instead sat on what appeared to be nothing, whatever it was, it definitely wasn't something. Mickey closed his eyes wondering what would happen from here on.

_Sora, Riku, Kairi, I need you guys more than ever now. _Mickey thought as he played some classical music in his head to drown out the laughs echoing through the dimension.

* * *

Sora, Luna and the others arrived in the gummi hangar of Disney Castle. Sora was pretty surprised to see Luna in wow over the technology that accompanied the room. Personally he had never been like this when he had come here before but to be fair to her, he had travelled to many worlds by then. Her excitement had seemed on par as to when he had first arrived at Traverse Town.

"So why didn't you just teleport us to the study room or wherever Merlin?" Sora asked not sure if Merlin was wasting time on purpose.

"I told Riku to come back here about thirty minutes or so after he investigated. He must have stayed with the queen and the others. Oh, that boy." Merlin shook his head.

Sora grinned, "That's Riku for ya."

Luna's next words made Sora grin quite a lot, "Wait, so we're on another world? Wait, is this the castle? I kind of expected it to be grander."

"Well it's not exactly the castle. It's the gummi ship hangar little lady and don't you be forgettin' it." A small squeaky pitched voice could be heard from the comm speakers.

"Who said that?" Luna asked Sora who responded by pointing to the box where the two chipmunks resided.

"Favourite Gummi engineers ready for duty. Chip-"

"And Dale! Howdy Sora, how're ya doin?"

"Great guys. Have you guys seen Riku?" Sora asked happy to see his old friends again.

"Yep, better hurry though. The King's missing!" Dale said jumping up and down frantically.

"Missing?" Everyone except Luna spluttered who was looking on in conclusion.

"Then we're too late." Sora sighed. He was absolutely astounded that anyone could just kidnap the brave mouse. Whoever it was had to be pretty powerful.

"Well let's head to the study room for now and find out more." Merlin said after regaining his normally calm composure, unless of course he was involved with Cid.

"Um, Sora? What is a gummi?" Luna asked as they made their way over to the entrance of the castle. After exiting the hangar they were met with what had to be the most beautiful garden, topped with designs of men blowing on trumpets and other musical instruments shaped completely out of leaves. What astounded Luna was when she came out of the gummi hanger and turned her back she had came face to face with a miniature sized replica of what was probably the castle, and with a gummi hangar (whatever that was, Luna did not know) hiding underneath it. The castle walls itself didn't look a day old surrounding the group with clear white walls just good enough to be called silver and what appeared to be the emblem of a mouse's head imprinted a few times on the walls. Luna was in fact so intrigued she had almost not heard Sora's reply to her question.

"It's like blocks. They're what make Gummi Ships which we us to travel around." Sora answered checking the female brunette's bewilderment even now and then. This place, Sora had to say was truly magical and he was sure Luna was thinking the same thing.

"So where do they find these gummi blocks. They just fall out of the sky or something?" Luna asked intrigued by how the ships were made.

Sora paused trying to remember what exactly made them though his only source, the journal, was in the possession of Jiminy Cricket who had become Sora, Donald and Goofy's information keeper for all sorts of things they had collected on their journeys.

Luckily enough Scrooge answered for him, "Well ye see, each world has walls protecting 'em which is what makes it so hard for Gummi Ships to travel to other worlds in the first place. When those walls get broken or weakened, some of those blocks fall to the world as meteor showers and that's how we get the Gummi blocks. Aye, of course ya need capable hands to even make the Gummi Ships in the first place. Lucky I'm such a genius aye?"

"You created the Gummi ships?" Sora asked, he wasn't exactly surprised anyway seeing as Scrooge had pretty much all the money in the world.

"Ach! Well o' course lad. Who else would have thought of using the King's star shard as a prototype in designing the first transportable gummi?" Scrooge haughtily.

"There he goes again." Huey whispered to the other two causing them to snicker.

"It sounds like fun to ride on one. Just seeing the stars..." Luna drifted off as the group arrived at the door. Drawing a quick breath and looking at Sora, Merlin pulled open the door and went inside followed by the rest.

* * *

The cornerstone of light lit had lit up the bright empty room ever since the castle had been built. After making entering the room, Riku was immediately entranced by its glow. The fact that a light so pure had not been captured was a relieving sight.

"So it's true. They weren't after the cornerstone, or maybe, they're waiting for something else?" Riku questioned touching the glass orb. Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy (who the four had met along the way) all observed quietly behind him.

"Well my journal is safe, so they're not trying to go after the data in it." Jiminy answered also quite puzzled by the disappearance of the King.

"You don't suppose it could be Maleficent's doing." Donald guessed as Riku turned back to them.

"I can't think of anyone else. She's the first one I would think off when it comes to having a grudge against the King." Riku answered. He wondered where Maleficent was hiding now after her plan of capturing the data worlds had failed the last time.

"But at the same time, it isn't possible she could have beaten the King due to the strong affiliation to the light this castle holds because of the cornerstone. Also, you say the fight only took place in the study room, which makes it even more unbelievable unless it was a surprise attack." Minnie told him which was true. Riku knew that the King would probably be able to handle someone like Maleficent especially in a smaller room where she couldn't transform into her dragon form unless he had been attacked from behind.

"That does make sense, but then what about Pluto? He should have at least sensed something if he was in the same room at the time right?" Riku asked knowing full well about the dog's stunning sense of detection.

"The thing is we can't find Pluto either so we don't know what happened and even then, he can't exactly tell us what happened." Jiminy answered for Queen Minnie.

"Well, Pluto's at Merlin's house in Radiant Garden. I just came from there." Riku told them. While they all did seem happy to hear the news, the fact that the King could possibly be kidnapped overshadowed that delight.

Minnie looked at Riku quickly as if something had clicked in her mind, "Well I'm glad he's safe. But what were you doing in Radiant Garden? Now that I think about it, before he was kidnapped, Mickey did say that he was going to write a letter to you."

"Yeah, but... the islands are gone now. If he did write something to us, it never came," Riku said folding his arms. Soon after his eyes widened in realization, "Do you think the letter could still be here?"

"It could be a clue from the King! Ahyuck, I bet it is!" Goofy exclaimed in excitement, Donald also jumping in.

"Right, let's head back to the study room and take another look." Riku said. All of them headed out of the hall of the cornerstone back into the audience chamber.

"It's such a shame as well." Riku could hear Minnie say under her breath as they made their way halfway across the room.

"What is?" Riku enquired. He still found himself a bit too shaken up by the events and while it was possible it had been Maleficent and Pete's doing, something still felt off.

"The Disney Town festival was going to be held in two days. It's just we had planned it through so much after he missed the last one. And then this had to happen. It looks like the festival will have to be cancelled." The mouse answered him shocking Donald, Goofy and Jiminy as well as Riku.

"But your majesty, it's been too long since the last festival we had." Donald quaked.

"We can't just let all that preparation go to nothing now can we?" Goofy added in trying to put on the best smile to cheer the queen up. It wasn't working.

"But is it worth putting everyone else in danger? I'd never be able to forgive myself if something were to happen to you boys or anyone else." Minnie responded worriedly.

"Well that's why you have me. You can't let that go all to waste and disappoint others. The king wouldn't allow it and neither would I. How about I protect the town for the festival?" Suggested Riku smiling at the thought of seeing a festival, after all it wasn't an everyday occasion for the islander.

Minnie stopped in her tracks soon followed by the others, "Are you sure about that Riku?"

"Don't worry, we'll help him." Donald shouted causing Goofy to chuckle.

"I'm sure you will. Thank you Riku." Minnie said smiling back before continuing on.

After leaving the audience chamber, they turned to their right noticing the door to the study room which had been closed when they left was now open. Putting his fingers to his lips to silent the others, Riku summoned The Way to the Dawn Keyblade and approached the door slowly. As he got closer he began to hear mumbles coming from the room. Recognising at least two of the voices, he smiled and put away his Keyblade. Motioning to the others that it was okay, they walked up and opened the door to come face to face with the people in the room.

Sora dropped what he had in his hand and beamed widely at the sight of his best friend, "Riku, you're okay! How's Kairi?"

"Hey Sora. Hope I wasn't intruding on anything. And yeah, Kairi's fine. Should be with Leon and the others like we left her." Riku responded glad to know that his best friend was alright as well.

Sora soon broke eye contact with Riku as well pointing at Luna, "Riku, this is Luna. I found her in Traverse Town. She says she lost her memory for the most part but guess what? She's another Keyblade Wielder."

Riku looked at her in surprise then smiled, he should know better by now how the Keyblade has its way of choosing someone, "Nice to meet you Luna."

Luna was quick to respond in kindness, "Likewise Riku."

The two boys soon spent time catching up and talking about their island being destroyed as well as saying their hellos to their old friends, Sora, Donald and Goofy in particular were having fun jumping about. The only one who felt a bit left out at what was going on was Luna who felt rather uneasy and was considering leaving the room just for fresh air if anything else. Mind you she was glad to meet a queen who was a mouse and talk about things like her friend Shiki's obsession with clothing, who Minnie could relate to with someone named Daisy. Mainly though she kept to talking to Huey, Dewey and Louie and asked questions about the castle though all of them claimed they had never been in the castle and that it was their first time. Sora soon mentioned the man in the black cloak who he chased after in Destiny Islands causing a few seconds silence from the older teen who thought about what it meant.

"So then maybe this mysterious fella kidnapped the King." Goofy deduced breaking the silence.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking. The question is would he do it if he did and why did he destroy the islands." Riku said picking up a few of the items off the floor, scanning them, only to chuck them away a moment later.

"Hmm, if he destroyed your world then you know what this means don't you?" Merlin said with a grave look on his face.

"The other worlds could be in danger!" Donald told them as he watched Riku throwing the books back on the floor.

"Then Yen Sid should be the first to know. Maybe he'll have some answers." Said Riku digging deep through the pile of books nearer to the door.

"Yen Sid?" Luna asked quizzically to Sora.

"He was the King's teacher and made us perform the Mark of Mastery exam. I'll explain later." Sora told her knowing that any sort of simple explanation would not suffice. He didn't blame her if she didn't know what he was talking about.

_Mark of- What is that supposed- Ah forget it! Less talking now, more questions later. _Luna thought struggling the quench her thirst for knowledge, at least for now.

"Aha, I found it." Riku announced after a while of book throwing, holding up a bottle with a piece of paper inside it for everyone to see.

"And that is..."

"A letter Sora. Remember how the last letter we had from him arrived?" Riku answered getting up and putting the bottle on the study desk.

"Oh yeah. So you think this might be some sort of clue?" Sora asked him to which Riku nodded.

"Well, you never know until you look." Riku said taking off the corkscrew and throwing it aside. Turning the bottle upside down, he shook it until the letter fell to where he could take it out of the bottle. The whole crowd gathered round the desk, waiting for King Mickey's message and in the middle Riku who felt it was as if he had done something wrong with everyone's faces peering down from his shoulder or in front of him. Their faces were all mixed with worry and yet hope and excitement that somehow the letter would lead to some amazing truth that only the King had and possibly could figure out. Sora, Riku and Kairi had been that same exact way when they had received the letter from King Mickey about the hearts connected to Sora. In the end though, it really only meant the start of a new adventure.

Reading the contents of the letter aloud, Riku disclosed all of what Mickey had felt during the past days to the others. Everyone listened intently, even Luna, who admitted she had no idea of what was going on except for the fact that the King had been kidnapped.

After Riku finished reading, Sora looked up to Riku, "We have to get him back quickly. Who knows what could happen if we don't find him?"

Riku sighed wishing he had Sora's simple mind sometimes, "Only problem is we don't know where to start looking. He could be in any world, but if we find this guy in the black coat then we'll have an idea where to find the king."

"And as if that's stopped us before, right guys?" Sora said turning to Donald and Goofy.

"Of course, we'll rescue the King..." Donald said pretending to swing his staff.

"And we'll do it together!" Goofy finished patting Sora on the shoulder.

"And I'll be joining you. Maybe it can get my memories back, just maybe." Luna added in with a smile. Sora looked straight at her. A girl who had only just gotten her Keyblade and needed training to use it, just like Kairi.

_Any help is good help. _Sora thought returning the smile.

"Excellent, I know you'll all do splendidly and I'll help when I can." Merlin encouraged clapping his hands together ecstatically.

"Hey Merlin, can you bring Kairi over?" Riku asked turning to the happy wizard.

"Of course, be back in a jiffy." Merlin said before disappearing right in front of them.

"For now though, we need to focus on the festival. We need to make this year the best one yet." Queen Minnie told them all. Riku had noticed in a lot more of a positive attitude from the queen during the reading of the letter. They all knew that it was unlikely that Maleficent would harm the King in any way. It was more likely she wanted something from him first or she would have out right gotten rid of him and left him in the castle if she had no use for him.

"Sorry, festival?" Sora asked, his excitement metre appearing to go through the roof by the second.

"We used to hold a festival every year to commemorate the amazing society of Disney Town however it had been cancelled in the recent years since Mickey was unable to have time for it. Now that he's gone again, we have to do the best to make him proud," Answered Minnie. She clicked her finger and soon enough through the doors came several mops and brooms with the brooms carrying dustpans along with them, "But first, I think this room needs cleaning up. Kinda messy, don't you think?" She giggled as she ordered the cleansing of the room.

While the room was being cleaned, Merlin reappeared with Kairi who gleamed at the sight of Sora.

"Kairi, I'm so glad you're safe." Sora managed to say before he was jumped to death by Kairi's hug.

"Sora, I was so worried about you. I shouldn't have leaved you back on the other island." Kairi said into Sora's shoulders.

Eventually returning the hug, Sora picked up the scent of fresh strawberries in her long auburn hair. Sora blushed a while but was thankful that Kairi's face was on his shoulder at that moment so she couldn't see it.

"Don't worry Kairi, it's not like you could have known the islands were about to be destroyed. Mind you, I did a horrible job of protecting them." Sora said now wishing he could find this man in the cloak even faster. His parents, Tidus, Selphie, Wakka and everyone else all gone in the blink of an eye. He didn't know when or if he would ever see them or the islands again.

"It's not like you could have known the islands were about to be destroyed, there wasn't much you could do." Kairi repeated Sora's words. Eventually realizing the position she was in, she quickly let go and hid her own blush. In fact, both now seemed to avoid each other's eyes. A fact which at least Riku easily caught up on and smiled when he saw it.

Soon after, Luna and Kairi were introduced to each other, both of who seemed to get along fine with each other pretty much immediately though both Sora and Riku assumed that it was because they were both girls so it was pretty easy for them to get a head start. The room was soon finished with all books placed stacked neatly onto a pile thanks to the help of the brooms teamwork and the floor completely clean with the work of the mops. Minnie thanked them before she dismissed them all from the room. After explaining to Kairi about the festival, she agreed to help right off the bat.

"Wonderful, I'm sure you'll all be a great help." Minnie told them.

"Yep, I just know that this'll be the best festival yet," Jiminy whistled in hopping off the table where he had been during the reading of the letter and hopped onto Sora's shoulder, "Feels like old times, huh Sora?"

"It does, doesn't it? How about I explore the town for a while, just to see what's going on?" Sora suggested.

Riku would have none of it though knowing full well what Sora was up to, "Or you're just trying to blow off your duties?"

"Come on Riku, I would never do that. You don't trust me?" Sora asked grinning.

"Coming from the guy who didn't help make the raft, I don't know why you're so surprised." Riku folded his arms grinning back.

"Don't worry. I'll have Donald, Goofy and Jiminy with me. If I stray too far, or don't come back here in a certain amount of time, they can drag all the way up to the castle right?" Sora nodded to the dog and duck right next to him who snickered in return.

"Of course Sora. Riku, you can trust us." Donald told him.

"Fine, do whatever you guys do best. Just don't say we didn't tell you so if you come back to find nothing to do." Kairi giggled and winked at Luna as the four began their departure.

"We won't because we'll come back on time. See ya." Sora shot back as he walked out with Donald and Goofy following suit.

Luna waited for the door to close behind them before smiling and whispering, "Oh please tell me you have a plan for them?"

Kairi grinned, in fact it was a rather devilish grin, the one someone would use when they had a cunning plan in mind, "Oh, I think I have the perfect idea."

* * *

So what exactly is this "perfect" idea Kairi has in store for Sora, Donald and Goofy? And who exactly has Maleficent recruited to take over the words. HINT: Its both Disney and Final Fantasy villains. The next chapter shall be finished within a week or so provided I have time.

I'm penning 2 hours a day to finish that so until then please rate and review. Always appreciate it!


	9. The Phantom Caper

A long wait hopefully compensated by a long chapter. In other news, I was checking TV Tropes the other day and I think I've found a whole bunch of tropes which I may add to this story. Obviously not adding them all but some are in this chapter and will be in future ones. Anyway sorry for the wait and have fun with a chapter that I had a lot of fun writing.

* * *

Chapter 9

The Phantom Caper

Disney Town seemed to be buzzing with positive enthusiasm, in fact it seemed as if the town and castle were completely unrelated. Had they even be notified that the King had disappeared? Even if they knew it wasn't an entirely new thing to them as the King had often gone to and from before. As Sora, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy entered the densely populated square of the town, they seemed to think it as a whole new world. After Xehanort's defeat, the fact of the matter was that Sora and everyone else's escapades were well known to some of the worlds, in particular this one and Radiant Garden. The news not to fall on deaf ears quickly spread across far and wide of the heroes who saved the realm of light from the imminent disaster that had been approaching at the time. However it hadn't been as if Sora had been keeping track of the hike in popularity he had gained, he did live on a small remote island after all. So when one of the citizens of Disney Town looked straight towards Sora and pointed him out everyone in the square jumped in anticipation and rushed over straight towards the Keyblade Master.

"Your Sora ain't ya? I think we can all agree when I say thank ya for savin' our world." One of them said who Sora fairly recognised as Horace Horsecollar who had spoken to briefly when he had visited Timeless River. The crowd all cheered shouting the names of Sora, Donald and Goofy who all seemed to respond by showing different reactions. Sora put his hand behind his head and grinned as wide as the Cheshire Cat while Donald stood tall and straight in a rather haughty manner. Goofy was in middle laughing while pulling Sora and Donald as a sign of teamwork.

"Thanks, I guess but really I couldn't have done it without the help of my friends." Sora laughed nervously while in Goofy's grasp.

"Awk, just bask in the moment why don't ya. It's what you do best." Donald told him not really believing Sora's nervous attitude.

"What's that supposed to mean? You don't want any credit or something?" Sora asked cheerily as photos were taken of the trio, "Fine then, I'll take your credit then junior hero."

"Haha, you know what I mean," Donald huffed angrily, "And it's NOT junior heroes. I don't care what Phil says."

"Oh no, not him." Donald fussed pointing down at the something or someone in the crowd.

Sora followed the duck's line of sight with his own to a tall mouse dressed in a rather fashionable suit and carrying a microphone in hand, and following closely behind was a camera man. The reporter pushed his way past the crowd and helped up his microphone to Sora and the others, "Hello, name's Mortimer Mouse, I work for Vil-, I mean Disney Weekly, the magazine, yes I know the magazine is excellent isn't it? Oh and can I just say I'm a big fan of yours Zola. I was wondering if you'd like to do an interview for our magazine. That would be just dandy!"

Sora looked at Donald as if to mock him sparking a boil of rage within Donald however the duck managed to keep it under the lid, if just barely. Sora decided to play his all his cards and let himself drown and bask in the moment for the time being.

"Ah, it's Sora and I don't see why not. Of course I'll agree." Sora grinned slipping under Goofy's grasp and pulling out his best smile possible, if he was going to go down in history as a hero he might as well do it right.

"Why do you think that old fella' Xehanort's plan failed in the first place?" The reporter asked, all mouths from the crowd now shut and instead focused on the Keyblade wielder's next words.

_What a silly question, why do you think it failed? _Sora thought not giving direct eye contact but rather staring at nothing in particular. Sora thought this answer was a bit too obvious but worded it as best as he could anyway. It wasn't actually before what had been just a small crowd had turned into a rather massive one. Regardless of what Donald said, Sora was actually kind of nervous to be speaking his thoughts in front of this many people.

Hoping he didn't say the wrong thing, Sora spoke up, "As long as this w-... uh, place and many others like it are protected, the darkness of people like Xehanort will not find its way into our hearts. You don't need to worry, I and many others like me will never let you down." Sora specifically made sure not to add the word 'world' just in case no one knew about other worlds out there. He wasn't sure how much the king had told everyone outside of those like Scrooge though he did have the assumption that they had been fairly informed after the battle with Xehanort if they hadn't known before.

The crowd cheered once more with the occasional grunt and "show off" from Donald. Sora mouthed back "I'm just doing what you told me to do" then turning his attention and focus back on the questions being asked.

"We would like to know more about your life beyond your journeys. Where do you come from? What is it like there?" The reported queried enthusiastically.

Sora did not know whether it was the pacing of the question or the fact that he had asked about a home to which Sora no longer had, but Sora's stomach churned at the sentence. Suddenly he didn't really feel like talking all that much. Donald and Goofy also realised this because they looked at each other worryingly before looking back at the struggling Sora.

Soon Sora decided on an indirect approach to answering, "The place where I come from is absolute amazing. Not as great as Disney Town mind you. A bit quiet but that's fine when you're lazy like me and like taking a new with distractions." Sora smiled faintly not really wanting to remember the islands. It always brought up images of the man in the black hood in his mind and he didn't need that, of all times now.

"Amazing, so tell us a bit more about your friends, how important are they to you?"

Sora was relieved as if a wave of anxiety had finally washed away and left him, "Well, I have a lot of friends so it's impossible to tell you about all of them. An example I guess here is Donald, Goofy and Jiminy. We've helped each other out since the first day we met and while we've had our ups and downs I wouldn't be anywhere today without these guys by my side." Sora replied now back to his previous self assuming Goofy's job of putting his arms around his friend's shoulders.

"All for one..." Sora started lifting his arms away and placing one hand in between the three.

Donald and Goofy both placed one hand on top of Sora's, "...and one for all!"

The trio raised their hands in the air. Jiminy jumped out of Sora's hood on to his shoulder smiled at the sight. Several members of the crowed awed at the display of the trio while other took photos. Donald and Goofy were both delighted and touched by Sora's words.

After the end of the interview, Sora took his time getting acquainted with the townspeople. He honestly had not expected this much of a reception, even after defeating Xehanort. Chances were that if this was the same in Radiant Garden he would have a hard time getting any peace and quiet. It had been hard work but in the end, he, Donald and Goofy had finally made it to hero status. They all knew Phil would be proud.

* * *

Luna could stay here forever, she decided as she walked the castle grounds. Marvelling at the brilliant architectural design, her eyes came to a stop at what appeared to be small toy soldiers made out of wood marching across the garden path. Attached to their hands were various musical instruments made up of a mixture of percussion and woodwinds. Ultimately, they played amazingly in unison resulting in a brilliant rhythmic theme (or in other words the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse March theme). She was absolutely mesmerised by the scene, it was like a dream. The best part was that there was so much else to explore other than this castle, yet she felt as if this was all she needed.  
"It's amazing isn't it?"

Luna turned around to see Queen Minnie and a female duck dressed in royal garbs who she presumed to be Daisy.

"It's beautiful, I still can't believe what's happened so far." Luna answered trying to find the right words.

"So you're Luna dear? My name's Daisy. Nice to meet you." The duchess said confirming her name to the brunette.

Luna nodded finding a new interest in her thumbs all of a sudden, "I just can't believe I'm standing in front of royalty."

Minnie shook her head smiling gracefully, "Oh don't worry, we're friends. No need to treat us like anything else. Just call us Minnie and Daisy."

"Oh, thank you your- I mean Minnie," Luna told her quickly correcting herself putting her hands behind her back so as not to prioritize her thumbs again, "So this dream festival... How exactly can I help?"

"I believe Scrooge was setting up a stall in the square of the town. Since Riku and Kairi are doing the decorations, then maybe you can help him with his work." Minnie Suggested after a pause.

"Of course, see you later." Luna said eagerly trudging off. Only half an hour had passed since Sora had left and already she was looking for an excuse to talk to him more. After seeing the spiky haired brunette pull off amazing moves in the fight against the Leaper Creeper, she felt the need to learn some of them, especially if she now had the same weapon he had.

_I hope he'll teach me and if he does, I just hope I'm good at learning it. _Luna thought thinking about the fire magic that Sora had used to free Neku from the webbing. A wide beam spread across Luna's features as she thought of her learning magic and how to use a weapon she had no idea about properly, the concept of it all was quite frankly exciting to think about.

On her way out of the castle she came across someone, both with the similar appearance to Goofy and clad in knight's armour.

"Oh sorry, have you seen a boy named Sora, a duck and a dog walk past this way?" Luna said trying not to draw conclusions as he might have not even be related to Goofy though he did seem to have some kind of teenage appearance about him which made Luna suspect that the two were related.

The teen soon confirmed her suspicions, "Yeah, he and my dad went passed me a while ago though. The name's Max."

"Max. Gotcha, mine is Luna. So you're Goofy's son then? Taking up after your old man I bet?" Luna joked with a grin still on her face nudging Max in the process.

"Yep, knight in training. Just great." Max said smiling sarcastically though the way it was said made it seem quite normal. There was also a subtle tone of disappointment in his voice which Luna could only barely pick up.

"Is something wrong?" Luna asked reverting to a neutral expression.

"What? What gave you that idea? Nothing's wrong. Everything's just perfect actually. Just a bit tired." Max's increasing sarcasm became even more blatantly obvious as he sighed and practically avoided eye contact with Luna.

_If you want to lie at least make it believable. _Luna thought mentally shaking her head.

"Of course. I'm sure trying to become a knight is a lot of hard work. You look like a teenager though right? Are you sure you're prepared for that kind of commitment?" Luna asked carefully leading him to talk about his true feelings, or at least make a start in doing so.

"Of course I am. I can't let the royal knights down." Max answered quickly. Luna nodded smiling inside, so maybe it was the pressure of conforming to their standards that was frustrating him.

"Right, I never doubted you. Just wondering if you were ready and you passed my test. Well done," Said Luna clapping and patting Max on the shoulder. He still refused to look at her and instead focused on the neatly cut grass below him, "Anyway, I need to catch up with them so see you later."

With that Luna took off leaving a rather confused Max to himself. Going out of the gates and past the two patrols guarding the castle entrance, Luna trudged up the hill path leading towards the town. It was rather hard to get lost anyway considering it was only a one way path. Luna chuckled to herself remembering the plan that Kairi had told her regarding Sora, Donald and Goofy while moving slowly up the path.

_This is going to be so much fun. _

Summoning her Keyblade and stopping in her tracks, she looked at it once more. She tried to recall a time other than her dream in which she had seen the blade but none came to her. She practiced swinging it around, horizontally and vertically. Luna repeated this motion a few times alternating between softer and harder strikes, faster and slower. Each time she did it she began to feel more confident.

Smiling she pointed Dream Seeker in no particular direction, "Fire." Nothing happened. She tried again a few times before giving up. She knew it wouldn't have been that simple in the first place, she was a greenhorn after all. There had to be some trick to it, something she wasn't seeing. Wincing at her novice self she put away the Keyblade and continued her walked through the completely green scenery. Delving her hands in her pockets and hanging her head down in thought, she failed to notice an anomaly in her surroundings.

* * *

Sora and Goofy stifled a laugh as Donald grunted in disgust at the awful taste of the flavour known as Liver pepper Ice Cream.

"Why would you even make this?" Donald grumbled eyeing the ice cream as if it were a disease.

"O' curses! Well I don't know what ta try now. Is it really a failure?" Scrooge questioned stamping his foot repeatedly, something Sora noticed Donald tended to do quite a bit himself.

"Maybe it's just Donald." Sora coughed pulling in a quick one and ended up looking the other way, whistling innocently.

"Maybe you'd like to try some?" Donald shoved the ice cream in his face to which Sora pushed it back.

"No thanks, hey Scrooge what else do you have?" Sora wondered diverting the topic away from the infamous pepper flavoured ice cream.

"Sea Salt ice cream and Lemon Cookie Ice Cream. You lads have any ideas?" Scrooge sighed took off his pince-nez spectacles and cleaned them with cloth.

"Hmm, how 'bout a mixture of flavours?" Goofy clicked his fingers, with Sora following in agreement.

"Mixture, aye... ah o' course, rainbow flavoured ice cream! The first of its kind, made by Scrooge McDuck, I like tha sound of that." Scrooge positioned his spectacles back on the bridge of his nose and wrote down the idea on a note pad.

"Just leave the liver pepper flavour out of it." Donald grimaced shaking his head at the rather bitter taste.

"Hey guys, what are you up to?" A familiar voice called towards the four. Sora turned around to see Luna walking up to them.

"Hey Luna, we're helping Scrooge out with his Ice Cream problem." Sora replied as the rather tired girl caught up and leant slightly on the stall to rest her legs.

"Ice Cream? Sounds nice. What kind of flavours are there?" Luna looked towards the Ice Cream Donald was holding in his hand and immediately felt shivers down her spine.

"Well, I have Liver Pepper-"

"Don't even bother with it." Donald interrupted receiving a scowling from Scrooge.

"Lemon Cookie Ice Cream and Sea Salt Ice Cream." Scrooge finished.

The name 'Sea Salt' immediately clicked in the back of her head, wasn't that the name the girl in her other dream had called her?

Luna pondered while stretching her legs a bit to reduce fatigue, "Could I try the Sea Salt one?"

"Why o' course lassie." Scrooge picked up one of the icicles, a light blue frozen bar of what Luna could only guess was delicious goodness. Taking the ice cream into her hand she gently licked the tip of it. Immediately a wave of what she could only describe as salty but at the same time sweet hit her taste buds.

"This tastes great!" Luna exclaimed as she started to take small bites.

"Aye, only took me a month or two ta recreate it," Scrooge smiled enthusiastically, "now you'll have to pay. 30 munnies."

"Wha-, what? I thought- well I didn't think that-" Stammered Luna looking backwards and forwards between Sora, Donald and Goofy and Scrooge.

"Surely ya didn't think it would be for free now didja?" Scrooge held out his hand.

"I but... munny? I don't have that on me. Where am I supposed-" Luna cringed, maybe she had been given some by Shiki before the two had passed out, then again she couldn't remember.

"I'm just joking around Luna dearie, no need to worry, it's on the house," Scrooge laughed patting her on the back. She didn't find this so funny however and soon was scowling herself. "You'll still need to pay though." He pointed towards Donald who gulped in misery at his uncle's words.

After paying 30 munnies for what Donald considered a rip off, Sora, Donald and Goofy headed off down the street. Luna had stayed to help Scrooge with creating the new flavoured ice cream and probably later assist Huey, Dewey and Louie who were on their own money making scheme. The travelled down the long winding cobblestoned pathway, meeting many new faces along the way. Sora was really not used to being this noticed, but when both adults and kids came up to his asking for pictures or autographs, Sora could never say no even if he wanted to. Other than beating Xehanort, what had the Keyblade Master accomplished? It wasn't as if he was the only one who had done something in that battle. Then again, he, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy were pretty much the only ones here who partook in the fight against the 13 darknesses.

_Maybe I shouldn't have come yet. _Sora considered mentally smashing his head against a wall.

_Kind of wonder if Donald, Goofy and the King had this kind of treatment. _Okay, now Sora felt better at least knowing that he probably had not been the only one who had been hounded with fans. After stating his feelings to Donald and Goofy, the two confirmed that they had also been quizzed by many of the townsfolk with Mickey of course, being the shining star.

"I tell ya that mouse is no good." Donald grumbled under his breath.

"That's no way to talk about the King, Donald." Goofy chimed in worried about Donald's sudden change of tone.

"Not the king you palooka, I meant Mortimer." Donald spat wanting to whack the knight on the head for saying such a thing.

"Oh yeah, that reporter. He seemed a bit arrogant to me." Sora furrowed his brow in annoyance.

"A bit? He's the worst thing next to Pete. Something about a rivalry with the King over Minnie." Goofy explained as they emerged from the path into the marketplace. Countless stalls made up the area completely stretching as far as the eye could see. In a way it kind of reminded Sora of the Bazaar in Agrabah.

Jiminy popped out of Sora's hood and took out the journal from his pocket, "A rivalry over love. How romantic." He said noting it down in the journal.

"Not when it involves him it isn't. He's just bad news all over and he'll try to get anything remotely bad on the King." Donald told the cricket as he finished writing his new entry.

"So if he finds out that the King's missing then he won't hesitate to spin it the wrong way." Sora remarked as he sniffed the amazing variety of food out. It just simply wasn't a smell you could walk away from without any justification for doing so, "How about we stay here for a while. I smell some _pretty_ good stuff." Sora inched his way over to one of the stalls and peered above the pot. Chilli. Licking his lips, Sora moved in for some when he was dragged by the ear back into reality by Donald.

"You do know that is for tomorrow right? You absolutely cannot eat it. No matter... how good it... smells..." Donald slowed downed hypnotised by the giant pot of stew next to the chilli. Donald's eyes watered as he fought for restraint while Sora drooled like a zombie licking his lips in the process.

"Gee, I feel like Jiminy and me are the only ones who ain't constantly hungry or greedy here." Goofy muttered absorbing fully the temporary brain-dead mindsets of his two friends.

Jiminy chuckled nervously as his stomach rumbled, "Well actually, if I had to be completely objective in an uh- subjective way... I am kind of hungry too, so I can see where they're coming from."

The rest of the day passed pretty seamlessly if one were to discount Sora's occasional grumblings about dinner. The trio soon passed through the garden centre which contained a magnificent fountain in the middle with benches surrounding it. This place seemed to be reserved mainly for couples or people walking their pets out. As the day drew on, the trio and Jiminy found the populace of the area increasing even further. Thankfully, the residents were too busy chatting animatedly amongst themselves to even acknowledge Sora's presence. They did spend quite a bit of time there, buying snacks to cover their hungry desires and sitting in the garden admiring the scenery while eating.

As things began to get a bit too rowdy, the trio decided to move on and headed to the port, which Sora seemed to fairly recall being to before when he had gone through the door to the past during Maleficent's rather short seize of the castle. It was fair enough to say however that the layout had changed considerably from how many years the trio had gone into the past. For one thing, a giant cruise ship was now in the place of what would have been a tiny steamboat. The river had also been expanded leading into many estuaries.

"This place is awesome." Sora stated his thoughts aloud.  
"Hyuk and you've only seen half of the town. Why if you take that there cruise it'll take ya to the other side." Goofy informed in a scholarly manner.

"I think he could see that." Donald mumbled pointing to the sign next to the port which clearly said "Leaves to other side of town".

"Hmm, we better get back. It's almost Sunset." Sora noted as the orange glow began to illuminate the town. The three headed back up stream and exited the port. Halfway through the garden Sora felt rather uneasy quite all of sudden, turning around hastily, he sighed when he spotted nothing out of the ordinary.

Picking up on this odd behaviour, Jiminy was the first to question his concerns, "Sora, are you okay? Is something wrong?"

Sora stared blankly at the neatly trimmed hedge to his side, "I thought- Never mind, just my imagination is all." Sora shook his head and blinked twice. Had he just seen eyes staring right back at him from the hedges?

_Okay, I know I have fans but this is just creepy. _Sora laughed it off anyway just wanting to get back to the castle as quick as possible. After all he did promise to help with setting up decorations. Leaving the market place and being tempted yet again by the absolutely mouth watering inducing festivities that were on offer, the trio met up with Luna and Scrooge again who had claimed to be done with whatever they had been doing but chose not to disclose the result of their experiment.

"It better be good. I'll be first in line to try it." Sora gabbed as they walked back down the path leading the castle.

"I think not." Luna murmured inaudibly while musing over what was to come tomorrow.

"What did you say Luna? Couldn't hear." Sora asked, he himself reminiscing over when he first saw the girl call the Keyblade in to her hands. He was still breath taken by the moment really.

"Oh nothing. Well, I was wondering... could you teach me that fire spell you used?" Luna smiled graciously at Sora. Clasping her hands together she pretty much looked as if she was begging for it.

"Fire? When did I-" Sora was about to ask before he stopped himself remembering that when he had freed Neku, Luna was also there to witness, "Oh, sure I guess..."

Donald not being the idle type when it came to topics on magic, jumped straight in interrupting Sora, "I'll do it. I am the royal magician after all."

"You will? Oh thank you Donald," Luna shrieked before calming herself down and clearly her throat as to appear professional in the matter, "So, when do we start?"

"After the festival. Don't worry, it's easy to learn." Donald reassured her summoning his Mage's staff and casting fire straight in front of him. Luna looked up in amazement as the spell travelled several feet before disappearing.

Luna shifter her head slight in order to catch what appeared to be the only evidence of the spell's casting, a scorch mark, "Okay, I can wait till then. Also Sora, about teaching me-"

"I know, I know. Of course I'll teach you." Sora chuckled at Luna's eagerness.

* * *

It did not take long before the four or five if you counted Jiminy, arrived back at Disney Castle. Luna compared how shorter the time she took to get forward and backwards was coming to the conclusion that it was because she actually had company to travel with, though the factor that they were going down a hill instead of up was also included. Arriving back at the study, Sora was immediately greeted by a rather jaded Riku and an annoyed Kairi who once again brought up the fact that Sora had neglected to show up on time in order to finish of the decorations. Sora honestly was surprised himself that it had not been Riku complaining seeing as he had done most of the raft anyway but the clear look in Riku's eyes telling Sora not to even bother asking was good enough for him.

"Did you set them up in town yet? I could do that." Sora suggested slowly hoping that he could have something to do outside rather than staying inside with the angry red head.

"The majority of decorations are for inside. The Queen is opening up the castle for visitor's entrance for the first time for a festival." Kairi explained grabbing a few of the decorations by the table and handing them to Riku who took them without much questioning.

"You sure that's a good idea? Wouldn't they want to meet the King?" Goofy asked stealing Sora's thoughts at the time.

"It's not as if this hasn't happened before. I don't think they'll be surprised." Queen Minnie walked through the door along with Daisy, Chip and Dale. Luna soon told them that Huey, Dewey and Louie were currently testing a new machine of theirs and would be back within the hour.

Kairi picked up a few of the decorations herself, "Don't worry Sora. We have something more important for you three anyway. A whole lot more important."

Sora's eyes widened excitedly, "Really? What?"

"Just get some rest tonight. You'll need it for tomorrow." Luna smiled patting Sora on the back sympathetically. Sora froze in place along with Donald and Goofy. That really couldn't be good.

"Okay, now we have to know what's going on!" Donald pointed his fingers at Kairi who threw up her arms in defence.

"Hey, I said it was important and I'm not going to say much more. Well, other than the fact that we'll all enjoy it." Kairi charged out of the room with Riku following closely behind. As soon as Sora and Riku's eyes met, Sora knew something wrong. He was quite agitated at the moment and simply looked at Donald and Goofy. Really no words had to be said at the moment.

"Oh by the way Goofy, I saw your son before we met in the town. He was in the courtyard?" Luna said remembering what she wanted to talk to Goofy about.

"Oh you did? He's a great son dontcha think?" Goofy went from rather shaken to full of energy promptly.

"Ah yes, but I don't think he's happy about something. You might want to check up on him." Advised Luna.

"Not happy? Hmm, I wonder what could've happened to him." Goofy turned to Donald who shrugged. Worried, Goofy trudged out of the room leaving only eight left.

Raising an eyebrow at Luna, she did the best she could to explain what she had heard from Max to Sora, "Apparently Max is a knight in training. But I don't think he's happy with it from the look on his face. It was like he was avoiding eye contact with me."

"Don't worry - I'm sure Goofy will sort it out." Sora replied knowing Goofy was the kind of guy who would help anyone out in anyway even if he had to fall flat on his face to do so.

Donald however, was not so sure, "I don't know, you know what teenagers are like."

Scrooge overhearing the conversation while examining books over the by shelf soon joined in, "Ach, the lad knows what he's doing. Nothing like the bond between a father and his son."

Daisy nodded in agreement, "I agree. Speaking of which, Donald what about-"

But Donald already knew what she was going to say as he interjected swiftly shouting, "No! I don't even wanna think about it. Those nephews of mine are enough to handle as it is."

* * *

Goofy peered into his son's bedroom inch by inch. Max was currently reading a comic book while laying down his bed though Goofy seemed to think it as something entirely else. He flicked through the pages chuckling each time as he saw something he found funny.  
"Hey Maxi, how ya doin' champ?" Goofy finally made his presence known moving all of his body past the door.

"Just fine dad." Max's monotone voice could be heard from behind the book. Goofy walked over to his son's bed and sat down beside him.

"So what're you reading, more knight training I bet?" Goofy grinned toothily.

"Yep, you got it." Max answered in the same dull tone as previously. He was kind of glad his father hadn't picked up on this yet.

Regardless of tone, Goofy expression softened and he looked down upon Max's goofy face as he flipped the page, "Listen. If there's anything your worried about you can tell me right? I'm your uh- 'daddy-o' I think? I just want what's best for you so if you feel like telling me anything... just know I'm here for ya."

Max's smile dropped as Goofy finished his sentence and he felt what appeared to be an invisible tug at his chest.

Dismissing it, Max flicked over yet another page casually before saying, "What's this all about dad? I'm perfectly fine, honest."

"Well, it's just that Luna said she met you today and she said that you were sad is all." Goofy informed him.

_Crap. She saw right through me? _Max thought wildly not really sure why he was surprised by that. He had after all completely gone out of his way to not look at her and it was although he hadn't wanted to admit it at the time a rather amateurish mistake. Closing the comic, Max shoved it under his bed before smiling.

"I'm feeling great. I was a bit sick this morning but its all good now. Thanks for caring though." Max got up and brought a second for of medium, the actual knight training book.

Getting up Goofy brought Max in for a hug. This would have been the point where Max usually returned his father's hugs except this time it was too awkward to do so, he knew he was basically lying through his teeth at this point and it did hurt quite a bit. Goofy, seeming to be quite astute depending on the situation, did notice this and as he looked at his son after letting him go, he noticed that what should have been there wasn't there at all. Something was missing and he knew as a father it was up to him to find out what.

"I promise ya, I won't let you down Maxi." Goofy put his hand on the teen's shoulder for reassurance but all it really spelt was more pangs of guilt in Max's heart.

"Yeah, I won't let you down either dad." Max's smile faded and he turned around, sat back on his bed and opened his book. Many sources of confusion on his features.

"Goodnight." Goofy told him expecting to hear a reply. There was, but a faint one at that. Goofy exited the room and slowly closed the door behind him slouching a bit like what Max had been doing only seconds ago. Turning around, he walked to his own room.

* * *

A new day shone bright for the residents of Disney Town and it would be one they would soon not forget for the Dream Festival was about to be declared open. From the previous day, the new Disney Castle looked more welcome than ever thanks to the efforts of Riku and Kairi who had put their hardest work in to the designs though Sora suspected that much of the design patterns were Kairi's idea. Servants of the castle, many whom Sora had not seen before were bustling about the castle. Business felt a lot more active than ever and the castle was set to be the main attraction of it all.

While talking to Queen Minnie, she referred to the theme of this festival as one of "Moving in the future". Sora however wanted the theme of "Running away" because he really did not want to stay in the castle for any longer if yesterday was any indication of how much he was appreciated by the town and while Riku, Kairi, Donald and Goofy would suffer the same treatment, Sora wasn't really up to all of the action and buzzing excitement this time around. Unfortunately, this bombardment of fans was likely to happen just about anywhere near this town so he couldn't really run from anything. Both Donald and Goofy shared his thoughts and Sora didn't have any doubt that at least Riku would as well after he came face to face with everyone.

Excusing himself from Minnie's presence, Sora quickly joined Donald and Goofy outside in the courtyard.

"You think that reporter will come to the castle?" Sora found himself questioning Donald as the trio walked past the entrance to the Gummi Hanger.

"Mortimer. No doubt, he'll probably try to get next to her majesty any chance he gets," Donald warned, "as bad as liver pepper ice cream."

"I heard that ya hooligan!"

The trio turned around to come across Scrooge, Luna and Kairi (who was holding something in her hands) heading towards them.

"Oops." Donald held his bill closed shut tight to prevent any other comparisons to the ice cream coming from his mouth.

"Ready for your important mission Sora?" Kairi grinned mischievously.

"Unless it has something to do with Heartless or Nobodies, no. But I know you'll tell me anyway." Sora quipped rolling his eyes.

"Good boy, you learn quick," Kairi teased showing him one of the pieces of cloth that was in her hand, "anyway, here you go." She finished tossing it over to him.

Sora caught the piece of clothing and examined it, "What's this supposed to be?"

Luna stifled a laugh and turned her back on Sora clutching her sides. Kairi giggled at this before explaining, "It's your outfit silly. What you'll be wearing. You three will be the clowns of the day."

Sora remained silent for a while before eventually digging into his ear, "Sorry, what did you say? I thought you said we'd be clowns for the day."

Luna could no longer suppress her laughter and let it out closely followed by Scrooge, "She did say that." She managed to say in between laughs.

Realization dawned upon Sora's face and he realized what was going on, "So this was your big plan all along? No, just no. Why? What did I do to you Kairi?"

"Oh Sora, don't take it personal, I'm sure you'll have fun anyway. I didn't bother with any shoes since yours are good enough for a clown anyway and by the end of the day you'll all thank me for it." Kairi smirked handing the other two to Donald and Goofy, though Donald was so flabbergasted by this act that he let the spotted white jump suit fall to the ground.

"Don't forget the make-up." Luna added slowly coming back down to ground level with the world.

"Oh, of course. I knew I had forgotten something." Kairi clicked her fingers in mock realization.

"This can't be happening." Sora stared down lifelessly into the clown suit.

"This REALLY can't be happening." Donald muttered feeling inside was now a more suitable option than ever.

"Oh, I don't know fellas. I think this'll be kinda fun, dontcha think?" Goofy replied happily.

"If this is fun, then I don't ever want to think Goofy." Sora replied now staring daggers at the suit. Had this been an act of war imposed by Kairi? Was Riku in on it too?

"I'll give it my all." Goofy thumped his chest proudly shocking both Sora and Donald at his enthusiastic approach.

"I know you will Goofy." Kairi smiled sweetly.

"I... I guess I can give it a shot." Sora knew when he had lost and this wasn't exactly the time for a counter argument with the guests about to arrive within the hour.

Donald huffed and crossed his arms, "Well, I refuse! I'd rather eat-"

"Don't go there." Scrooge eyes in nephew up and down suspiciously.

Looking at all three of them eagerly Kairi beckoned them to the castle, "So shall we get started?"

* * *

By the end of their makeover session, Sora no longer looked to be himself. Now with a pale white miserable face and marks underneath his eyes which reminded him fairly of Axel's, Sora looked a wreck. When he had been thinking of running away this wasn't exactly what he had in mind.

"You look hilariously great Sora. How about a joke or two." Luna asked while Kairi added the finishing touches. Donald and Goofy were already done and had not needed as excessive amount of make-up as Sora had.

"Ha ha, very funny." Sora said quickly clearly not amused.

"Aww come on Sora, what's with that face? And Donald too. You're both going to scare the children away if you keep this up." Luna struck back enjoying the tension in the air. Kairi laughed at this.

"You are so enjoying this aren't you." Sora practiced trying to pull off his scary faces while saying this, maybe then they'd thing twice about making him do this.

"You could tell? I'm surprised what with all that pouting your doing. Turn that frown upside down and just think to yourself "It's only gonna be for a day"." Luna imitated Sora's voice, or at least tried to anyway.

"That was a horrible impression." Donald commented.

"Would you like me to do your voice then?" Luna shot back stopping the duck from making any more witty remarks.

Kairi stepped back next to Scrooge and sighed happily at her work, "There, you look almost unrecognisable."

Sora didn't say anything. He simply stood and made for the door.

"Oh Sora. You haven't even heard of what you'll be doing yet." Kairi stopped him before he could reach the handle.

"What else? Entertain kids and act as paperweight for their piggyback rides." Sora stated simply.

Kairi shook her head, "Uh, no. Your job is to make everyone welcome in Disney Town. Just walk around like you were doing yesterday and have some fun with everyone. Why would I make you do chores on a day like this?"

"So walk around just like yesterday... except with a clown suit on?" Sora said sharing looks of horror with Donald.

"Yep, just like yesterday. Whatever it was that you were doing, just do it except of course you act like profession clowns. Also..." Kairi rushed on to the table and grabbed for a bag which was most likely Merlin's. She pulled out three afros with different hair colours and handed the orange to Goofy, yellow to Donald and green to Sora.

Goofy was the first to try his afro on and was immediately overwhelmed with nostalgia.

Sora just stared at his before throwing it back on the table, "Sorry but my spiky hair will not allow it." And with that he walked out. Kairi turned to Donald who was currently in a raging battle with the emotions inside him before just throwing it back on the table as well.

"Sorry, but no!" He yelled storming out in the process after Sora.

Goofy on the other hand, petted his afro softly before turning to Kairi, "Thank you Kairi."

"No problem Goofy. You're the real hero here." Kairi told him before he left her, Luna and Scrooge in a completely giddy state.

* * *

And so Sora was left to contemplate on how it all came to this as he found himself pulling strange faces and entertaining the many citizens who passed by the trio. Both Sora and Donald had found it easier on themselves by having a contest on who could pull the strangest faces. Scrooge and Huey, Dewey and Louie were all stationed in their designated places, selling Ice Cream in the case of Scrooge or a crazy slushy gun fight for the three ducks.

"You know I should have brought the hair." Sora said while pulling off another face causing a kid to laugh.

"It wouldn't help you win this." Donald muttered squeezing his face together to entertain another person.

"It's not that, it's just the brown spiky hair- y'know?" Sora said pointing out the obvious distinctive trait. Those who had noticed immediately praised the Keyblade wielder and his two companions while other laughed at their misfortune and asked why they would volunteer for such an embarrassing thing, "Where's Jiminy?"

"Happily enjoying himself unlike us." Donald told him to which Sora nodded.

"Well, not all of us." Goofy said as he handed a girl hippo a balloon.

"Yeah, you're enjoying this a lot Goofy. What's that all about?" Sora enquired.

"Reminds me of the old days." Goofy mentioned excitedly.

Sora stuck out his tongue as if a horrible taste had intruded his mouth, "Wait, so you found this stuff cool back in the day?"

"It's Goofy." Donald proclaimed as if it was a totally new concept to Sora. The three continued to make total goof balls of themselves for the next few minutes until an unexpected face showed up.

"You have got to be kidding me." Max said to himself as he saw Goofy in a clown suit. Dropping his Sea Salt Ice Cream on the ground in shock and now completely embarrassed, Max could only stand and watch as Goofy called him over.

"Ah, so you're Max. I'm Sora, how are ya?" Sora said waving ecstatically.

"Is that the guy who's supposed to be hero? Looks like a moron to me," Max muttered under his breath as he tip toed his way to the three, "Uh dad, what are you doing in that?"

"Why having fun of course. It's kinda neat. Wanna join?" Goofy asked no doubt ready for some father-son bonding. Unfortunately Max wasn't willing to co-operate, not this time.

"Dad, over here please, I need to speak with you." Max ushered Goofy over while the other two continued to exchange faces with one another.

Max covered his face while speaking, "Yeah, you say neat. This... isn't neat. Or fun. It's embarrassing and I can't see why you're doing it."

"Embarrassing? What are you talking about? Don't you remember when you and me used to dress-"

Max however quickly cut in, "Yeah yeah, look, that happened in the past okay? When I was little. We don't need to bring this up again."

"So you're saying we can't have fun anymore?" Goofy asked dejectedly.

"No, you can have fun. But at least don't embarrass me while doing it. I have a life outside of knight training you know." Max whispered.

"I understand son but there's really ain't a thing I can do unless you talk to Kairi." Goofy continued to explain about what had happened earlier on in the morning.

"Right. I'll get to that, in the meantime stay out of trouble okay?" Max left Goofy who waved after his son.

While Sora was talking to others, he was also watching Goofy in the background and his son. Max seemed to be rather fed up about something from the way he was walking. He could only hope things were alright between the two of them. Just then he felt a chill to his side. It was a familiar feeling, one he had experienced yesterday while in the garden. Moving his eyes slightly, he observed a strange sight out of the corner of his eye. A shadow which belonged to no one in particular disappeared into the underground below after a slight moment's hesitation.

"Donald, Goofy," Sora shouted running over quickly to the manhole cover which the shadow had slipped into, "I think I saw something heading down here."

"Maybe you're just hungry. I didn't see anyone open the cover." Donald said eyeing a person who was in the process of munching through a chilli dog as he walked past the three.

"Okay, how about you entertain kids for the rest of the day and Goofy and I go down and investigate." Sora suggested crouching down and pulling off the cover revealing a ladder going down.

Donald hesitated before pushing past Sora and going down the ladder first. Sora and Goofy followed and climbed down to arrive at a tunnel. Immediately in front of them, the three spotted a shadow moving along the wall. Tunnel seemed to arch all the way to the left. Summoning his Keyblade quickly, Sora lead Donald and Goofy running down the long passageway in order to catch the shadow.

"Hey, stop whoever you are!" Sora yelled but the shadow would not listen, if anything, it only continued on in a much faster pace than before.

"You think it's a trap?" Donald huffed as they made their way into a small rectangular room with many sorts of contraptions.

"Maybe." Sora acknowledged the possibility; even though he hadn't thought it out that much before. Regardless of the contraption, the three continued on chasing the shadow who they could tell was turning back in a frenzy every now and then. At one point, Sora had managed to catch a glimpse of the thing they were chasing, however at this point it was too dark to see far ahead.

"Ach." Donald spluttered all of sudden skidding to a halt and falling over. While doing so, he grabbed for Sora's clown costume sending him down as well. Goofy on the other hand, howled hysterically and crashed into the wall closest to him.

"What's going on?" Sora could feel something hard and spherical on his face. Getting up, he realised it wasn't just one but many of them, "Marbles?"

"You have got to be kidding. So our phantom likes marbles?" Donald glared staring at the endless darkness straight in front of him.

"Maybe we can still catch up with him," Sora brushed himself off and helped Donald back up. Picking up his Keyblade, Sora rushed quickly ahead to catch up. It only took a few seconds before he found himself at a dead end, "That's impossible! He came through here didn't he?"

"Maybe there's a secret passage or somethin'" Goofy suggested as the duck and dog finally caught up with Sora. Sora looked around the room carefully paying attention to if anything seemed out of place but he could come up with nothing. Shaking his head as a no, he recalled the Kingdom Key.

"Er, I see nothing." Donald concluded after his own thorough investigation. When Goofy replied with the same thing, Sora sighed. How could they lose whatever it had been that they were chasing like that? Did it have powers to walk through walls?

"Maybe we'll see him again but let's get back to doing... you know what for now." Sora told them miming a clown's facial features.

* * *

As the evening reared its beautiful face, the only two mysterious left unsolved was the case of the mysterious phantom the trio had encountered and who would win the million dreams award. The winner would also be the first to try out the new Rainbow Dreams Delight flavour which Luna and Scrooge had developed together.

"It's so fun experimenting with Ice Cream you know?" Sora found himself listening to Luna's experiences on the subject of Ice Cream after spending 30 minutes washing away the make-up on his face (rather clumsily at that) and taking off the clown costume. Now back to his old self, Sora felt quite relieved though unfortunately the memories would still be imprinted in his mind for the rest of his life.

"Sounds like you were having tons of fun." Sora said as the two made their way to the front of the crowd.

"Sounds like you were too." Luna giggled squeezing her way through a few more of the townsfolk until they arrived at probably one of the best places to watch.

"Please, let's not bring it up again?" Sora pleaded. Minnie, Chip and Dale now took the stage and the crowd boomed with applause, Minnie taking the podium where the microphone stood. Sora could see to the right of him and Luna were Riku, Kairi and the others.

"Oh why even bother Sora? You know I will and you know Kairi will." Luna replied smiling. It was amazing how quickly she had become friends with all of them. Like friends who hadn't seen each other since childhood, though Luna wouldn't know much about that.

Minnie cleared her throat silencing the audience before starting, "Welcome everyone to the 24th Annual Dream Festival and the presentation of the million dreams award. Today is the day we celebrate all the wonderful things this town has to offer. Of course, this town would be what it is today without you, the people. So we'd like to remind you that even though only one can take the prize home, although there have been some exceptions in the past, you are all deserving of this award."

The crowd took this time to applause and congratulate the Queen on another great festival. Sora however sighed when he heard the very distinguished voice of Mortimer Mouse who he feared may have drank a bit more than he could have taken as he was swooning from left to right barely able to balance himself.

"As you may know, many of you voted for who you thought best deserved the award today and hopefully you'll show that person with the same gratitude and kindness you show your family or friends. Now for the award," Minnie took the golden envelope from Chip (at least Sora presumed) and opened it up, "I am pleased to announce, the award goes to... Kairi for outstanding contribution to setting up the castle for this festival as well as acting as one of the driving forces in the defeat of Xehanort!"

Kairi stood in absolute shock as the crowd cheered her name over and over again.

"Come on Kairi." Riku whispered pushing her forward slightly so she could start her ascent up on to the stage. Her open mouth turned into that off a beam as she shook the queen's hand and bowed down to accept her medal. Sora clapped as hard as he could, even if what had happened today had peeved him so, in the end though she definitely did deserve it. Luna clapped along with him happy for her new friend's award; she only hoped that the Ice Cream she and Scrooge had made did not poison the girl.

"Any words Kairi?" Minnie asked stepping aside for Kairi to talk in the microphone.

Kairi stepped up to the microphone slowly and gulped, "Uh, hi. My name is Kairi- well I'm sure you already know that but... I just want to say, thank you to everyone who's voted for me. After meeting quite a lot of you today and getting to know you I think you're all amazing and... I'd just like to dedicate this award not just to me, but my dear friends and everyone else who has made this beautiful town what it is today. Thank you." Her last words drifted away as tears streamed down her eyes. Everyone clapped appreciatively, admiring Kairi's kindness and modesty.

The queen waited for the applause to die down before stepping back onto the podium, "Thank you Kairi, now about your Ice Cream. Scrooge, if you will?"

"I'd be glad. He ye go Kairi," Scrooge gave her what looked like a rather colourful Ice Cream, "Hope you like it."

Kairi laughed nervously, "I hope I like it too." The crowd waited in silence as Kairi took a bite of the new flavour. Luna in particular waiting with bated breath. The elevated expression of amazement on Kairi's face after she took her first bite was all Luna had needed: Kairi had absolutely loved it.

* * *

A/N: So back at the end of another chappie and time to explain some things which hopefully you may take as what's to come.

- First the introduction of Max. I decided to include him for my love of A Goofy Movie, gee what I great movie huh? Really its because I watched the Doug Walker's Disneycember specials which is why I thought it would be good to include. Don't worry there will be more and this side plot is not yet resolved (obviously since I kind of left it open).

- One of themes of this story is Sora's hero status after the defeat of Xehanort. What he did is widely known over the worlds in which 1. The Princess' of Hearts live and 2. Radiant Garden and Disney Town. This is building up to something so please enjoy.

-Ah, the mysterious phantom and Mortimer Mouse. Characters I added mainly as they are rivals of a certain Mouse. Let's face it, Pete can't be taken seriously enough to be considered a threat. And yes, I pretty much just gave a hint to who the phantom was.

Next time, our brave heroes will visit Radiant Garden where I plan to have two other FF cameos introduced and Luna will finally learn magic, woot. Until then, please review and don't be surprised if you have to wait another week for this. I will not rush but I will make sure you see it by the end of next week. That's a promise.


	10. Radiant Philosophies

I must have the worst luck ever or something. My power supply died on my computer so I had to get a replacement. Problem was by that time, I had a mountain pile of homework to work on so I could barely spend any time. But now, here it is, and a lot less words than the previous chapter. In other news, KH HD 1.5 Remix FTW! That is all. Enjoy the chap :)

* * *

Chapter 10

Radiant Philosophies

The luminous lights which accompanied Disney Castle lit up the night sky and shone as wonderful as stars revealing the rather windy path in front of Sora and the others. It was finally time to say goodbye to Minnie and Daisy, as the rest of the party, Scrooge and the three ducks included, were due to head towards Radiant Garden. Merlin had insisted they take the Gummi Ship instead of just teleporting there just in case they needed to grab the ship really quickly. He himself would go on ahead without them claiming not to have the patience to sit on a long flight. After dropping, Scrooge, Huey, Dewey and Louie off, Sora and the others planned to meet up with Yen Sid to discuss the crisis. As they walked through the garden path, Sora smiled when he saw both Luna and Kairi still talking about the events of that day. Earlier on, Kairi had told them (her, Sora and Scrooge) how amazing it was and opted for trying out more. Tiny droplets fell from the sky, signalling the rain. The group quickened their pace until they got inside the Gummi Hangar. Goofy, who was the last one in, closed the door behind him quickly.

Luna in particular marvelled at the sight in front of her. A ship, red and majestic, yet quite small and rather well... blocky, rested on the landing platform. This one was emblazoned with the emblem of Disney Castle, sticking out with its gold and rather embossed design.

"So this is a gummi ship?" Luna asked moving in closer to get a better look.

"Yep, she's a beauty ain't she? We called it the 'Royal Highwind R.T.K." Dale's normally tiny voice boomed from the speakers.

"Ah, nice. What does the R.T.K mean?" Riku inquired.

"Rescue The King. I named it myself." Chip jumped in pushing Dale out of the way to get his say.

Sora shrugged, "Well, at least it'll remind us of who we need to save. That's a plus."

"Well it could have been a lot longer. How does R.T.K.A.S.T.W sound to you?" Chip replied.

"And what does that stand for?" Asked Luna not really caring about the name either way. She was going to travel to another world and probably see the endless amount of stars on her way too. The concept of it all did seem very exciting to her innocent mind.

"Rescue The King And Save The World. Thank goodness I stopped him as well." Dale interjected quickly causing the other chipmunk to glower at him.

"So I guess this is goodbye. Come back with the King safely okay? And make sure to bring yourselves along with him too." Minnie said turning everyone's full attention back to her, possibly to avoid the two chipmunks bursting into a massive argument which could delay the group's flight launch.

"Done and done. We've found him before and we'll find him again." Sora smiled sympathetically for the poor queen who had to put on a smile every time the king had disappeared.

"And make sure you come back yourself Donald. I don't want your feather plucked corpse on my consciousness." Daisy lectured the male duck.

"I will Daisy, I promise." Donald answered, wondering himself about not spending time with Daisy anymore.

The rest of the group bid the farewells and ascended the stairs to the lifting platform, where a flight of steps led into the cockpit.

"Hey dad, wait up!" A voice called from behind. Goofy was the first to turn around to come across his son running up to him. The teenage dog stopped to catch his breath before continuing, "Take me with you, will ya?"

Goofy smiled at his son's enthusiasm, he seemed quite different from yesterday already, "Aw, son. You have to study if you want to become a knight. I'll be back soon, I promise."

"But I can study along the way. Look at this." Max pulled the rucksack off from his shoulders and held it in front of Goofy's face. Taking the bag, Goofy found that it was quite heavy and didn't examine any further, confident that his son hadn't stashed anything in there other than books.

"Well, why not? It'll be great, like a nice trip and all." Goofy praised slapping his son on the back and raced into the Highwind ahead of everyone.

"Uh, but Max won't you miss your friends?" Kairi asked.

Max smiled impishly, "I doubt it." He then headed into the Ship after his father leaving a confused Kairi and Luna who still wasn't convinced.

* * *

The Highwind was split into three parts similar to Sora, Donald and Goofy's first Gummi Ship in which there was the cockpit, surprisingly spacious considering it was fitting eleven people in it at the moment, though it was showing its limits. The second part consisted of the bedrooms though the group soon found that there were only two sets of rooms with two bunker beds in each meaning only eight would fit or if the three ducks bundled together then one would be left for the floor (not including Jiminy as he could sleep anywhere). Either way, they'd work around it. The final section was the engineering room which of course was where installations and repairs of Gummi parts were made to ship which weren't external. From what little of Sora knew about it, it housed the fuel, the backup power and the rocket booster engine tanks, both main and emergency. In addition to that, the ship hosted two lower elevated areas along the side of the ship which were where the weapons system was allocated. Certainly it did feel a lot bigger when inside than out and seemed much like the previous Gummi Ship so far.

"Pretty awesome huh?" Sora asked Luna as she examined the engine room along with him.

"Awesome is an understatement. But first, I wanna see this baby fly." Luna beamed eagerly.

That was all Sora needed to hear and grinned back, "Now we're talking. Come on." The two ran back to the newly refurbished cockpit in order to see Donald get on to the front seat. Usually at this point he would probably argue with Donald over who would get to pilot the ship but at this point he was too excited to see Luna's reaction to care. Instead he along with Goofy sat on either side of the two chairs next to the pilot seat. The smell of newly covered paint still faintly existed in the room and Sora could even pick out a few things which had been added, mainly the brand new control panel and the extra coated thick windows.

"Donald Duck here, ready for lift off." The court mage announced into the intercom as everyone else who didn't have a seat quickly held onto something firmly. Luna seeing this, followed along by grabbing onto Sora's seat.

"Oh by the way Luna, you are going to hate this." Sora told her before turning back.

_Well, that's great for confidence. Thank Sora. _Luna thought preparing herself for the worst. Although what happened next, she couldn't have expected.

"Blast off!" Chip and Dale's voices were soon heard and then all of a sudden, Luna's stomach dropped. She felt as if her insides were trying to escape her and she definitely had heard screams along with her own. Soon the Highwind felt stable and normal, she could feel the floor vibrating beneath her feet, humming to the engine's rhythm. Though Luna herself was anything but stable. Her body was shaking; her throat was dry; her stomach had not yet seemed to return to her body and she was completely reluctant to the idea of opening her eyes.

"Luna, its fine. We're not dead. Ahyuck."

Luna opened her eyes slowly at the sound of Goofy's chuckle. Her eyes then opened almost widely and they probably would have popped out of their sockets if they could. She was travelling through space. Stars whooshed past them as the Highwind travelled through a mixture of colours, primarily blue but with shades of green, red and others. Luna couldn't even put her heightened emotions into words at the moment.

"Don't worry; I still can't get past it." Riku told the shivering girl. Sora nodded in agreement with Riku and then turned back to the screen.

"Well at least they upgraded the speed. We should make it by tomorrow around midday." Donald informed the group.

"Not the only thing we improved. There's auto pilot as well." Chip told them.

"Finally. I never understood why there wasn't one." Sora responded relieved.

"Still wouldn't rely on it that much though. Also, if ya'll have noticed, I added an extra glazing towards the window. We've researched more into the recent effects passed off by the Keyholes of the worlds and certain ones give off stronger radiation than others. The thing is I've never even detected such a strong radiation coming from these worlds before. I'm not sure how bad this is but it definitely can't be good. Either way, Chipper and I increased the coating so that it wouldn't affect the ship." Dale explained.

"...Or you." Chip quickly added in.

"And finally, we've added more armour to the ship and a better shield. Problem is that the ship's not as manoeuvrable as it used to be. The extra speed should help a bit but I would still be careful if I were you. Anyways, happy flying!" Dale finished and then bid the group farewell along with Chip before disappearing over the intercom.

"So... I call top bunker." Dewey proclaimed jumping up and down.

"That's not fair, let me. You two can sleep below." Huey argued.

"And how's that fair. Since you two can't make up your mind, I think it's best if you leave the top to me." Louie told the two. This began an argument between the ducks until Scrooge silenced them all by coughing rather loudly.

"Ah, now that I have ye lots attention, since ya all can no decide for yourselves, I'll take the top and you three will share at the bottom. Sounds about right don't it?"

"Sounds right to me too," Donald agreed while he steered the Highwind to the left sharply to avoid an on hurtling piece of space junk, "I can see what they mean, it does seem slower to turn a bit."

Huey, Dewey and Louie moaned in disappointed while Scrooge ushered them down the corridor, "Now off to bed with ya. It's already late as it is."

The three ducks yawned in unison before speaking back, "Do we have too?"

"What do you think? Good night everyone." Scrooge said to the others before retiring to the bedroom on the left along with his nephews.

"Kairi, you should also have a rest, you've done quite a lot for the day. You too Riku and Luna." Goofy swivelled around to meet contact with them.

"Maybe you're right. I am kind of tired now that I think about it. What about you guys?" Kairi asked Sora, Donald and Goofy smiling weakly.

"Ah, we're not ready yet. If I am though, I might just fall asleep on this chair. It's very comfy." Sora remarked resting his head even further into the welcoming leather chair.

"Well I for one am staying. There's so much to ask." Luna, who had become much more still and calm in the recent seconds, told them.

"Really? You're not tired?" Sora turned his own chair around to meet her. She did seem a lot happier now and her eyes seemed too fixated on something beyond him. Probably the stars.

Max, who had been in the corner for quite some time finally spoke up after silence throughout (apart from the screaming), "I can't blame her. I'm hardly tired myself."

Luna looked at him and quickly gave him a thumbs up to which he returned. Riku stretched his arms up high for a second and yawned in succession.

"Right, well in that case. Goodnight guys. I'll take this room," He pointed over to the second room which was not yet occupied, "Kairi and Luna can share the room with Scrooge when they're ready."

"Yep. Goodnight guys." Kairi repeated following Riku off into the corridors where they split into separate rooms. No one on the ship had any doubt that Kairi would be getting a good night's sleep; she did deserve it after all.

* * *

The room was left with Sora, Donald, Goofy, Luna and Max as they all took in what was a great vast ocean of worlds.

"I can't believe this. I'm seeing the outside world. Now this is cool." Max spoke first thinking of how jealous all of his class would be when he returned.

"I know. But since arriving in Traverse Town. I think I can believe anything." Luna replied putting her face up to the window.

"Hey, hey, don't do that unless you want us to crash." Donald spat. Luna moved away quickly apologising though she knew she would probably do it again given the chance.

"Here Luna," Sora took off his seat belt and got of the chair, "Take mine."

Luna nodded and slowly sat in the chair. Sinking down, she smiled once again. It all seemed the same, yet so different. Moving past the variety of colours and appearing as if they were seemingly going nowhere and yet it was quite clear they were. Looking at the monitor attached to the control panel, the rear view presented showed that Disney Castle was long since far behind.

Minutes soon turned into an hour as Luna found she was slowly drifting to sleep. Max had retired to the bedroom Riku was in around fifteen minutes ago. Sora himself was barely able to keep his own being up, feeling he had some sort of duty to make sure Luna was alright. Goofy had long since fallen asleep as well and was currently snoozing and drooling on the control panel as per usual on Sora's previous journeys, opting to stay behind as the only person who wouldn't be able to have a bed in place of Max. Donald, who was the only one wide awake, seemed to be having an inner struggle of whether to switch to auto-pilot or not.

Sora noticing Donald's trembling trigger finger on the button added in his opinion, "You might as well, unless you plan on staying here the whole time."

"But I don't trust it. What if we hit an asteroid on the way?" Donald gulped eyeing the button suspiciously.

"We're nowhere near any asteroids. Also we haven't met any space junk apart from that one right? We should be fine." Sora summed up weighing the positives though not really looking at the opposites.

"That's a horrible way to predict something," Donald regardless pushed the button and selected Radiant Garden on the destination marker. Turning around, Donald rested his chin on his feather-palmed hand, "I'm already bored."

"Oh, just go to bed Donald. If you're so worried, just let me handle the piloting for now okay?" Sora rubbed his eyes and tried to take on his hyperactive side even if that was but anything he was feeling.

"While you're tired, I think you should be getting the sleep Sora." Donald encouraged pointing to the bedrooms as if he were Sora's father.

"He's right Sora. A growing boy needs his sleep." Jiminy jumped out of Sora's hood and dropped down to the control panel below.

"Heh, you know what? You're right. Imma go now, goodnight Jiminy, Donald, Luna." Sora yawned once more before going into Riku and Max's room.

"And while you're at it. You should get some rest too Luna." Donald also advised the barely conscious girl.

"No it's okay. I'm absolutely fine." Luna told him leaning on the console panel a bit.

Donald scowled at the girl's stubbornness, "Okay, if you want me to start teaching you that fire spell, you'll have to get up nice and early."

Hearing these words, Luna stood up almost immediately, "Yes sir." With that she walked lazily towards Kairi's room leaving a snickering Donald who found his feet advancing towards Sora, Riku and Max's room without control leaving the snoring Goofy by himself and an uncomfortable cricket who found it hard to sleep because of this.

* * *

The town of Radiant Garden loomed ever nearer as Sora found that he was the first to wake up of everyone except for Goofy who had woken up only a few minutes before Sora. Sora had admired that the flight was a surprisingly smooth sail so far. No Heartless or Nobody ships had been encountered and Sora's guess that there would be no space junk hurtling towards their current predicament had been right. At least for now. The space junk in question, Sora had found out during his first journey with Donald and Goofy, was just debris that fell off from the walls of the worlds so essentially the space junk was a bunch of premature Gummi blocks stacked together.

"Hey Goofy, what do you think of Luna?" Sora whispered in order to make sure no one else was overhearing the conversation other than possibly Jiminy if he was awake.

"She seems like a nice gal Sora. Why'd you ask?"

"Nothing. It's just, since she's lost her memory and all I've been thinking of that time. In Castle Oblivion?" Sora sat down in the pilot's seat and spun around in his chair repeatedly out of boredom.

"Yep, I remember that! You kept remembering stuff, while me and Donald kept forgettin' right?" Goofy recalled nostalgically.

Sora chuckled softly, "They weren't real memories Goofy. But at the same time, I did want them to be real. I still do I guess."

"And now they are. You've got Namine and Roxas and Terra, Ven and Aqua too. So I guess your memories did become real in the end huh?" Responded Goofy gripping Sora's shoulders firmly and giving him a reassuring smile.

"Yeah, and Xion and Ax- I mean Lea. Though they're all in Twilight Town right now having fun. And we're starting a new journey again to find the King and Luna's home. What I'm getting at I guess is, I hope Luna's problems are similar to ours back then. When I look at it though, it just feels completely different. We still remembered our friends, even for a little while. I don't know what happened to her before but she can't remember anything, not even if she's had any friends." Sora explained thinking, no, knowing there was more to it than this. Had Luna really told him all that she knew?

Goofy being able to read Sora's obvious expressions expressed his own thoughts, "Ah, I see. You're afraid that asking her anything about her past may actually hurt her. Well I say you won't know 'till ya try so go ahead."

"Yeah, I guess I just wanted to give her some space for a while but I'll ask her once we arrive at Merlin's place." Sora said pausing his spinning for a moment contemplating his and Luna's own experiences. In the end he had to ask himself, we're the two really all alike? Maybe Namine would have an answer though he didn't really want to interrupt her vacation along with everyone else's. Sora's last words to all of them after Xehanort's defeat and shortly before their departure was "Enjoy your lives, you've earned it" and he planned to stick to that vow of letting them catch up with the lives they missed or could never have had before, especially Terra, Ventus and Aqua who had suffered through so much in the past 11 years.

"So, when are we reaching Radiant Garden anyways?" Goofy inquired trying to remember what Donald had said the night before.

"Midday. We should be getting pretty close now." Sora looked out towards the farer reaches of what had now become a light bluish colour. Radiant Garden wasn't that far from Disney Castle if Sora had remembered correctly and with the extra added boost like Donald had said they would get there even quicker.

The inhabitants of the ship were now all just starting to wake up one after the other. Jiminy was first after hearing waking abruptly after hearing Sora and Goofy's conversation and scolded them for awhile before deciding to settle down and write about their newest mission in his brand new journal. Jiminy was actually travelling with three books, the oldest which had been Sora's adventures before Xehanort's awakening, the newest had been his adventures during Xehanort and this newest one would be the one he would use for this journey though Sora had the first two books inside his pocket. Donald was quick to wake up as well, making sure the ship hadn't crashed. It had seemed that his paranoia had caused him to fall short on his needed sleep. Sora opted to drive the Gummi Ship in favour of the cranky duck and Goofy and Jiminy helped to make sure that he wouldn't intervene in any way. Time moved on quickly until most of the members had awakened. The exception was Scrooge who snored sound asleep in his bed while his nephews teased him with what was a 500 munny note, whether it was theirs or Scrooge had been sleeping with it, Sora didn't know.

"That's it right?" Luna pointed in the distance as a beautiful town appeared in their sights.

"Yeah, that's Radiant Garden." Riku replied knowing full well that Sora was mentally doing cartwheels in his mind at the idea of meeting his old friends again.

"I still think Hollow Bastion was a better name for it." Donald muttered bitterly.

"Oh shush, if you could hear what you're saying Donald. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt though since I know you're tired." Kairi said coolly, this was her former hometown after all and she only had brief memories of her childhood here but at the same time, it was still home, or at least had been.

It was a few more minutes before Sora slowed down the ship, to hover above the world. He soon found that apart from the other changes, refurbishing and repainting, it was the exact same trusty, reliable Highwind as he chose the marketplace as the place for them to teleport to.

"So, how do we get down?" Luna asked trying to look down to the world below her but all she could see were parts of the Gummi Ship obstructing her way.

"One moment. Huey, Dewey and Louie, get Uncle Scrooge," Donald shouted down the hallway. A few moments later, a laughing Huey, Dewey and Louie emerged out of their rooms followed by an irate Scrooge storming behind them, the 500 munny note in hand. It had seemed as if all of Donald's grumpiness from earlier on had now transferred to Scrooge, "Anyway, this is how we're getting down."

Donald pressed a switch on Goofy's side of the panel and there was an immediate bright light surrounding everyone. The next moment, Luna found herself in a completely different area. There were people walking around and the atmosphere was different. It was also a lot colder and... outside.

"Wait, so run that by me again. What just happened?"

"A teleportation device, neat huh?" Jiminy answered allowing Sora to pick him up and place him on his shoulder.

"I think the reason was that we can't upset the world border or something like that. Right dad?" Max answered reflecting upon what Goofy had told him during his travels. He was also new on the whole travelling thing so it had come by a total surprise to him too.

"Order." Donald corrected.

Luna questioned one more thing, probably the most interesting thing stand out high above the rest, "That's a..."

Sora looked up to where she was pointing, "Castle, yeah. Hey maybe we should check up on those guys as well later." By _them_ he referred to the ex-Nobodies who lived there, Evan and Ienzo who were partners in science, and Dilan and Aeleus, the guards of the castle who once belonged to Ansem the Wise. The defeat of both their Heartless and Nobody turned them back into normal human beings as well as Lea.

Luna did not question this any further however. She knew she would have to find out sooner or later about everything anyway.

The group walked down the steps of where they had landed to the marketplace which looked completely different from Sora's last visit. The town seemed to have roughly restored its 'Capital of Light' image thanks to the files Tron had dug up a while ago. Roughly, because it would never really look the same as it used to be. When the darkness had taken over the world ten years ago, the world's appearance had drastically changed because of it and some of the damage that had been done became irreparable. But even so, the town looked well on its way to flourishing with the roofs of houses fully repaired and paving slabs fully replacing what used to be destroyed and corroded ground. The biggest change was the fountain in the middle which connected to streams running through the ground in different directions going under the walls of the area. The shops however, remained the same. It was hard to expand business when half of the marketplace was blocked off for access. As they passed on their way through the marketplace they noticed people glancing in their direction and giving even the biggest smiles of appreciation. Sora tried to not look at them for the sake of his own sanity.

"Well, I think it's time we head our separate ways." Scrooge told them nudging towards the shop where he worked as they arrived near to the Borough.

"So what do you do here? Build Gummi Ships?" Luna asked.

"Haha, I wish. Not anymore I don't. Now I make a variety of things. I leave the Gummi Ship business ta Cid, I expect you'll meet him soon. Come over to my shop sometime an maybe I'll have a new gizmo to show off to you. It'll be worth the wait... and the munny." Scrooge took off his hat and bowed to them.

"Scrooge, the million munny duck." Luna smiled at Scrooge's feistiness.

Scrooge's eyes shifted from side to side before he moved in covering his exchange with Luna with his hat and whispering, "Actually billionaire and just a wee more, but that's a secret."

Both of them snickered before Scrooge moved away and bid them goodbye before walking off while whistling.

"I think we also have to go right?" Huey sighed.

"Yep, we have a business to run ourselves." Dewey replied.

"And you sure are great at it. Make your uncle Donald proud." Donald said, while he tried to encourage them, his ulterior motive was simply to get rid of his sister's annoying children as soon as possible.

"Yes Unca Donald. Bye everyone." Huey, Dewey and Louie all said together and received the return response before heading to their shop which was also near a synthesis shop ran by a Moogle named Mog.

"Howdy kupo. Haven't seen you in a while." Mog said as Sora approached him.

"Yeah, I was taking a long break but now I'm back." Sora told him.

"And good thing kupo. You've forced poor little me to stitch Sora, Riku and Kairi plushies all day and night. You've become really popular since defeating that meanie I hear." The Moogle screwed his face giving a rather annoyed look on his features.

Sora, Riku and Kairi looked at each other for a second before jumping in astonishment, "Plushies?!" They all shouted in disbelief.

"Yes, that's what I said kupo. They were in really high demand, so Leon encouraged me to make them. Big mistake. I can't get any sleep. With you here maybe they'll go for the real thing and I'll finally break kupo." Mog sweat dropped in relief. He held out a Riku plushie for all of them to examine.

"Ooh, you look really cute there Riku." Luna teased looking at it.

"No. Please. Stop." Riku simply said covering his face in embarrassment.

"Sounds like you guys were really awesome." Huey complimented overhearing their conversation while setting up the stall along with Dewey and Louie.

"Wait, they get dolls but you don't have a Donald and Goofy doll?" Donald said, his face also turning into that of disbelief.

"Hey, I would have taken an action figure myself." Sora replied, he just could not take his eyes of the Riku doll.

"Oh by the way, I'd be careful when going through the rest of the town if I were you kupo. I hear there have been a lot of Heartless lately. Anyway, hope to do business with you again soon kupo. See ya later." Mog finished before returning to his normal business of stirring a pot full of synthesis items.

"Heartless?" Luna said more to herself clenching her fists tightly.

"Get ready Luna." Sora warned her and with that the party advanced down the stairs.

* * *

The first few Heartless popped out of nowhere as soon the group walked under the arch heading towards Merlin's house. Donald pulled out his staff and tried to hit a Bookmaster to his left with fire magic however the spell was absorbed as the Heartless opened its book, allowing the fire spell to hit it. The Bookmaster flipped his book to face the group and fired the fire magic back at them. All of them dodged to either side of the walls. Riku jumped back and flung his Keyblade taking out the Bookmaster. The other Heartless besides it were common soldiers.

"Time to see if my training is up to standards." Kairi hissed to herself moving from the wall and shooting fire out of her Destiny's Embrace Keyblade. Her aim was dead on as the spell hit one of the Heartless square in the face. She dodged as another soldier tried to jump attack her and allowed Sora to cyclone in it. Luna clutched her Keyblade tightly with both hands for extra strength much like Sora's style and took a horizontal swing knocking away one of the soldiers and Goofy threw his shield to finish it off. Donald's spamming of thunder managed to momentarily stun the rest of the soldiers allowing for Sora and Riku to finish them all off both with strike raid.

"You guys were amazing!" Max exclaimed as he watched the action while hugging the walls.

"I wouldn't get so happy yet." Riku said as more Heartless, this time minute bombs.

"Oh gosh, it's them. Run!" Goofy yelped knowing full well what the annoying things could do as they started running for the group initiating there timers. Kairi, who was in the front, led the way to Merlin's house, running as fast as she could along with the others.

"They already activated it?" Donald panted moving as fast as his feet could carry him. The minute bombs did not waste time and chased after them, there were at least five, so the explosion would likely be massive.

"Why are we running away from those things? They look pretty weak." Luna asked as they neared their destination. They could all see Merlin standing outside waiting for them.

"Luna, they may look weak but they're-" Sora was cut off by the sound of an explosion and an instance of light behind them. Stopping in their steps and turning around, they could see clearly that where the bombs had been, there was an excessive amount of damage done to the walls of the house that they had passed by. There was also a rather big crack on the stone wall attached to stairs which led up to the Bailey.

The occupant of the damaged house, a woman, came out of her house and screamed either at one of two things: The Keyblade Master or the damage done to her wall. Either way she seemed cross-eyed for quite awhile before she fainted.

"Oh dear, well I guess some things just have to happen. I take it you managed to get here without any casualties?" Merlin walked up to them while peering at the unconscious woman by her door.

"Uh, no. Other than that," Donald pointed to the woman, "But Uncle Scrooge and the other three went back to their shops."

"Hmm, yes. Well, come in, it is quite chilly today. Leon and the others are inside waiting. I'll just pop Mrs Summers back into her house," Merlin fished out his wand and moved it up and down rhythmically. The next thing, the woman knows as Mrs Summers had flown (or levitated) into her house and the door closed behind her, "There we go. I'll just make a few repairs to her wall. Go on ahead."

"Thanks Merlin." Goofy answered for everybody and everyone made their way to the house. Everyone, that is, except Luna. She could definitely recall being here before, in her dreams except in was at night. Was there something about this place that was so important? Her home or perhaps a clue to finding her home?

"Luna, you okay?" Sora enquired. He was the last one outside, apart from Luna. Everyone else was inside the house and saying their hellos to Leon and the gang from what the two could hear.

"Hmm? Oh, I'm fine. Just thinking about things." Luna stammered a little, turning to meet Sora's face.

"Right... Listen we'll talk later but for now I think you should come in. Merlin's right, it is a bit chilly." Sora shivered playfully.

Luna only smiled, nodded her head and with that she followed him into Merlin's house. _Yes Sora, we'll definitely talk later. _

* * *

AN: So that's the end of that chapter and Chapter 11 will becoming soon. I'm not going to say when as I don't want to jinx it but it will be coming soon. In the meantime, I'll spice up my profile a bit more for you to enjoy.

- First comment I'd make is that the best part of problem writing any type of fanfic is the interaction between the characters. Kingdom Hearts is probably one of the better series' out there because there pretty much a wide range of cast with whom any story can be centred on, as long as it fits that characters personality of course.

-Secondly, I'm probably going to be going for a more fairytale experience with this, and by this I mean at least the first story out of the trilogy. Kingdom Hearts 1 was amazing for its fairy tale storytelling and this is trying to recapture that feel along with the comical aspect.

-Also, moogles other than Mog will make an appearance throughout this trilogy, so in the words of Scar "Be Prepared"... for fuzziness!


	11. Crash Landing

**Back again for more and now I've got the power of bold writing with me. We also have two new FF cameo appearances here who we'll be seeing more of as the story continues. Also, as of when I finished writing this, it was Tetsuya Nomura's birthday. Of course, when I'll upload this, it won't be but Happy Birthday to the man who made the crossover between Disney and Square possible :)**

* * *

Chapter 11

Crash Landing

Luna soon came to found, after much anticipation overnight, that the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee were quite the friendly bunch of people. First up was Leon, probably the most anti-social of the group from what she could tell and yet still quite welcoming to her presence. Occasionally, she found him leaning against walls or just murmuring an incoherent sound to show agreement, but first impressions told her he was alright. Next was Aerith, a rather beautiful person not just in looks, but personality as well. Her warmth and tranquillity seemed to bounce off the walls of the room bestowing themselves upon everyone else as well. Then there was Yuffie. While still quite beautiful she seemed to bring off a hyperactive and bubbly demeanour, balancing Aerith's calmness. She called herself 'The Great Ninja Yuffie' though Luna wasn't really convinced. If ninjas were on par with Keyblade wielders (as Yuffie proclaimed), then she looked as if she was a while off yet with her slight clumsiness. Still, she was also quite warm and welcoming with a cheery personality that made Luna beam herself. Cid was stout and stood with a firm back. Luna had already decided as soon as she heard him speak that he was the kind of person you did not want to make angry. And yet, he was quite charming and whereas Leon often stood in the sidelines, Cid decided to stand out getting right down to business in discussing what Luna had professed to be interested in ever since she saw it.

"Yep, I built quite a few Gummi Ships back in the day. Well, I suppose I still do but I mainly just upgrade ships." Cid answered her when she had told him how she loved the Gummi Ship travel.

"How does that work?" Luna asked the broad shouldered man.

"Well there's different type of Gummi blocks, not to mention certain ones only work with certain other parts so you have to study them for quite some time to see the differences." Cid replied as Luna nodded in understanding.

"And certain blocks have strengths and weaknesses such as increasing armour at the expense of manoeuvrability right?" Luna added in.

"Yeah su- Hey! If you already know so damn much 'bout it, then why are you asking me?" The elder man looked her up and down questioningly.

Luna squinted her eyes a bit much like she remembered Shiki doing, "I wish I could say that's my own knowledge but I learnt that from Chip and Dale if you know them."

"Of course I know 'em. How are those little pipsqueaks these days?" Cid wiped a smirk off his face and sat back down on the chair next to his computer.

"They're doing quite alright." Goofy told him.

"Anyway, what's this about an increase in Heartless?" Sora asked wanting to get quickly to the point. Luna slid away from Cid to rejoin Sora and the group meanwhile checking out the rest of Merlin's house. Quite a mess would be Luna's choice of words in describing it, though at the same time Merlin was a powerful wizard so he probably could clean it anytime he wanted to.

Leon detached himself from the wall, "Well, I'm glad someone asked. Around a few weeks ago, we started to notice an increase in Heartless appearing, the artificial kind. Unusual since we did shut down the machine creating them six months ago, we checked recently and it's still down."

"Meaning they have to be appearing from somewhere else, whether it's this world or not we don't know." Aerith continued. Merlin now came in through the door, after finishing his work on repairing the house's wall opposite his. Wiping a sweat from his brow, he sat down on the table in the middle.

"It could be that Maleficent's behind this." Riku continued on to tell the gang what had happened in Disney Castle and what he had managed to deduce.

"That old hag? I wouldn't be surprised." Yuffie agreed the second she heard the name by nodding throughout Riku's speech.

"But it could also be that guy in the hooded cloak as well." While Sora didn't want to rule Maleficent out, his thoughts kept turning back to the guy he had met on Destiny Islands. The only ones who wore those cloaks were people who travelled by use of dark corridors meaning he had an affiliation with the darkness.

Luna who was lost in thought just as much as Sora, suddenly remembered her own encounter, "Wait! I think I might have seen the same person. There was a man in a black hood who told Shiki and me how to beat the Reaper mission. He also sent out that one Heartless, the spider one, after us. Do you think...?"

"It's the same guy? Could be. Whoever he is, we can't allow him to destroy any more worlds." Sora said clenching his fists tightly causing them to grow pale.

Kairi, who noticed this, put a hand on Sora's shoulder to calm him, "Sora, it's not your fault. And don't worry, we'll restore the islands like before and it'll be back, same old same old."

Sora looked back at her before grinning suddenly, "Yeah, don't know what I was worried about. Everything'll be back to normal."

After travelling with Sora for quite some time, it didn't take much for Donald and Goofy to know he was hiding his emotions. He had, after all, done his best to hide his pain of finding out that Kairi had been kidnapped while on their journey to defeat Organization XIII. Even so, they knew best when to lay off the topic.

Kairi who wanted to reassure him further, was cut off quickly by Donald, "Kairi. I'm sure Sora'll be fine."

Kairi was not quite satisfied that Sora was as chirpy as his usual self but took her hand off him for the sake of getting down to the matter which was currently being addressed. Sora mouthed his thanks to Donald before moving over to the other side of the room where Pooh's storybook sat on the desk.

Leon coughed on purpose turning everyone's attention back to him, "Anyway, the point is that it's halting progression on the restoration of this town. There's also been a problem with the security system. Notice anything strange on your way here?"

Sora tapped the storybook before turning around, "Oh yeah! Now that you mention it, I didn't see the security program while we were fighting the Heartless. It defends the town against Heartless." Sora realized quickly explaining to Luna and Max what it was.

"Yeah and that's not the only problem. The whole OS has stopped working meaning no Tron." Cid said moving out of the way to show his monitor to everyone. A blue screen met their eyes filled with random alphanumeric symbols and the occasional 'ERROR' word present.

"You mean you can't contact Tron?" Sora jumped away from the book rushing over to Cid. An urgent look in his eyes.

"Nope. The system's completely crashed." Yuffie slapped her hands together to represent the sudden stop.

Aerith nodded her head, "And it coincided with the increase in Heartless a few weeks ago as well. Their behaviour from what I can tell-"

"From what _we_ can tell, is completely erratic. More so than they've been before actually." Yuffie interjected not wanting Aerith to take all the credit for their discovery.

Sora, Donald and Goofy exchanged worried looks with one another. Tron was one of their friends and a big part in the restoration of the world. Defying the MCP and teaching Tron about the values of friendship had been one of the trio's most cherished moments and the thought of something horrid happening to Tron was something they didn't want to contemplate.

"Maybe you should head out to the castle postern. Leon was just about to head out there himself now that I think about it but I told him to wait for you to come back instead." Merlin said.

"Well I must say Sora. You haven't changed." Leon took his turn to put his hand on Sora's shoulder, but out of respect.

"Of course. How could I be anyone else?" Sora asked going back to genuinely smiling now.

Leon shook his head, indicating that that wasn't the point he was trying to get to but instead of saying anything further, he let go of Sora's shoulder and opened the door. Taking out his Gunblade, Leon turned back to the rest of them.

"Let's go to the computer room. There's something you'll want to see." With that, Leon walked out of the door but stood just outside with his back turned to everyone else.

"Right, we'll see you guys later." Riku said to Aerith, Yuffie, Cid and Merlin. The rest of the group took off with Leon in a hurried pace. Max, who was the last out, quickly got his shield from his bag and then hurried to catch up with the rest of them.

* * *

Luna began to recognise more and more of the town from her dreams as the group fought their way through countless more Heartless. While she had been running in her dreams before with her friend, she did briefly remember some of the scenery, at least enough that she could relate it to this visit. Maybe she could find the alleyway where she had encountered the Rhino. Perhaps there she would find clues to her identity, or even the other girls. As she took out one of the shadows moving in on her, she looked over to Sora. She knew she had been sound in thinking to tell him everything soon, but should she really tell him about her dreams? The fact that she had seen him before in the station made Luna feel as if she could trust him and yet, Sora didn't seem to recognise her. Why had he appeared if the two had never met before? Was it simply a coincidence or was there more to it? Luna personally decided that it could not be one, unless it was Sora's twin or something, there was no logical reason for her coming across the same face twice.

"What are those?" Luna shifted her attention away from Sora to focus on the hearts floating into the sky.

"Hearts. When Heartless are defeated, they release hearts which go into the sky. A bit more complicated than that though." Sora explained knocking a Heartless into the air with the back of his Keyblade releasing yet another one of these hearts.

Luna grunted as she was knocked back by a spin kick from a Soldier. She was barely able to keep her footing, using her Dream Seeker as support. Donald's ice magic helped to get rid of the soldier before it could do anymore harm however. Uttering her thanks to the duck, Luna inhaled and exhaled briefly before helping Leon to defeat some of the shadows surrounding him. She soon found out, that Leon, being an expert swordsman, didn't really need her help as he swiftly obliterated the shadows in seconds. These ones, she also noticed, did not release any hearts but she didn't question this. Max and Goofy were also doing a great job working together to defeat the Heartless and it seemed from Luna's eyes that Max was rather content for the time being, though she had a feeling it was more to do with the fact that he was in another world than actually considering this a father-son type bonding deal. Luna took note of the pathway on her right before moving up the stairs. If she recalled correctly, Luna and the other girl had not gone up any stairs in her dream meaning it was likely the alleyway was through there.

The group entered the bailey after Leon opened the gate which guarded the area onwards from unwanted intruders. Immediately they could see quite a bit of improvement to the area, mainly that the townspeople had repaired the broken walls and damaged concrete. There were also now fluorescent tubes on the ceiling lighting up the pathway to outside.

"No Nobodies appearing?" Sora enquired looking out the window. He could still see the great maw stretching as wide as the eye could see. It seemed the redevelopment program had only taken place in the town.

Leon shook his head while observing the hilt of his blade, "They've been pretty quiet in comparison. Almost like they've never existed. To be honest their lack of presence also makes me worried."

"Well, Nobodies don't exist in the first place anyway, but I can see what you're saying." Riku informed though still just as bemused as everyone else at all of these events. Everything had to be connected somehow, the destruction of the islands, the Reapers' Game arriving in Traverse Town, the arrival of a man in a black cloak, the disappearance of the King and the increase in Heartless. Those couldn't be mere coincidences and yet for what it was worth, they could not even begin to see how these were connected. For Sora and Luna, it all came back to the man in black yet for the others they were slightly more concerned for the King and what Maleficent was planning.

"Well howdy there. Haven't seen you guys in a while."

The group turned around to come across three miniature sized fairies; each drabbed in their own personal style of fashion. A good example was the dark and brooding one immediately clashing with the rest of the group's accessories.

"Oh, it's the dullwings." Donald grimaced. It was clear that he wasn't that fond of the trio of treasure hunters or 'thieves' as Sora, Donald and Goofy often called them. Of course the three were not too fussed and were not too enthusiastic of the duck either.

"It's Gullwings, for you information bird brain. And don't you forget it." Rikku, probably the clumsiest of the three, hammered back.

"Don't bother Rikku. He's not worth your time." Paine said in her somber voice as two other fairies attempted to hold Rikku back from kicking Donald up his bill.

"Uh, anyway, what are you three doing here anyway?" Sora asked also trying to calm the beserked Rikku down.

"What else do we do when there's treasure waiting to be found?" Yuna successfully managed to subdue Rikku though she still occasionally threw daggers at Donald.

"So I take it you've found treasure then? What is it?" Kairi asked bending down to the girls' height to speak with them eye to eye. Rikku, at the least, took this as an insult but managed to calm herself just in time.

"Well, if we had an idea, we would know what we were searching for in the first place." Paine remarked coolly.

"So where are you heading off to?" Yuna asked watching Rikku fly around to lose some steam.

"The computer room in the castle. We found out that something happened down there." Explained Sora.

"Well okay then, see ya." Yuna nodded in understand before eventually stopping Rikku from buzzing around excitedly.

"Wait a moment... That's it?" Sora asked as the three headed towards the Borough. The Gullwings turned around.

Yuna blinked a few times in confusion to make sure she had heard him correctly, "What's it?"

"Not gonna help out a bit? I mean we might need your help with the Heartless." Sora said holding in the will to burst out loud laughing at the awkwardness of the moment.

"Why should we? Your treasure's that way, ours is this way. Have fun finding your computer though, whatever treasure floats your boat I guess." Yuna waved before rushing out, Paine following quickly behind.

"Or sinks it, later taters." Rikku managed to get out quickly before Donald took a swipe at her. She managed to avoid the hand and taunted him further by sticking her tongue out before leaving with the others.

"Yeah, you better scram. I really don't like her." Donald snarled stamping his foot down heavily.

"To be honest, I don't think she likes you much herself." Luna commentated snickering at the court wizard's ferociousness.

"Still, why did you think we needed help from them Sora?" Kairi asked standing back up.

"Using them as bait." Sora divulged much to the shock of the others.

"Wow, Sora..." Goofy was at a loss for words.

"Oh come on. I was joking around." Sora lied putting his hands behind his head and walking off down towards the restoration site.

"You know, even if he were joking around. I would have done the same thing." Riku whispered to Donald who chortled in response. Leon who was used to the fairies for quite some time, couldn't help but silently agree with Sora's statement and continued on catching up to Sora with the others at his heel.

* * *

"Progress on this part of the town was going quite well, at least until the Heartless started coming in full numbers," Leon told them pointing. What used to be the restoration site now had changed in to a garden path leading all the way up to the castle. The group could tell from what little had been finished that they were in the process of planting plants into the ground along the way. They had done the best with what they could given the formation of the mountains closing in ruining the scenery somewhat, "Doesn't help if everyone's scared off them."

They all continued on, moving up the stairs to the castle postern. Considering other areas of Radiant Garden had changed, the castle in contrast had not. A hole was still present in the pipe attached to the building releasing a lot of steam from within. Going down to the entrance, Sora and the other came across the first two of four ex-Organization members that now resided in the castle.

"Hey Dilan, Aeleus, what's up?" Sora called cheerily walking up to them.

"Ah, Master Sora. So you've returned after six months. Tired of the quiet life already?" Dilan was first to speak looking towards Leon more than the person he was actually talking to. Aeleus closed his eyes, a natural feat for the man, with his hands closed around his axe.

Sora moved his eyes up in thought, "Something like that. In need of any Heartless exterminators? We'll do it for free."

"Ha, funny," Dilan laughed slowly in a sarcastic tone before continuing, "But yes, although we've done rather reasonably well so far, they do appear in the corridors. But they tend to stay out of the study."

"Just like last time then. Don't worry. We'll figure this out." Sora promised looking back to Donald and Goofy who nodded in agreement.

"We'll escort you to the study where you'll meet Even and Ienzo. They'll inform you on the situation in more detail." Dilan disclosed before turning around with Aeleus to walk into the door.

"What, you don't trust us?" Riku asked as they entered into the hallway.

"Would you trust two boys, a duck and dog who've killed you before?" Aeleus spoke up receiving a chuckle from Dilan in approval.

"Oh come on, didn't you go back to your whole selves because of that? And you're still angry about it?" Riku said mimicking Sora's look of disbelief on his face.

"It was a joke. I thought you liked those." Aeleus responded.

"Ha, funny." Sora repeated Dilan's words in the same sarcastic tone as they navigated their way through the needlessly complicated maze of corridors.

* * *

"Ah, so you've returned Keyblade Masters." Even said putting whatever he was holding down as he and Ienzo watched Dilan and Aeleus enter with the group.

"Yeah, you really have to stop saying that Even. It creeps me out." Riku told him recalling their first time meeting the scientists and guards. To say it had been awkward was quite the understatement to say the least.

Vexen pulled an innocent face, "Oh? But I'm only stating what I see. Two inexperienced dullards for one."

"Wait, are you referring to me and Luna?" Kairi asked offended. Luna, who had thought he had been referring to Sora and Riku at first as an insult soon scratched her head as the atmosphere in the room changed to that of confusion.

"As I said, two inexperienced dullards. A rather... inept buffoon and what appears to be his son, a greedy impatient duck and two Keyblade Masters, one an idiot and the other deserving the title he holds." Even analysed receiving mixed signals from the others.

"Hey, take that back!" Donald shouted getting ready to send a bolt of lightning Even's way.

"Yeah, that's not nice." Sora agreed shifting his body, sending Jiminy popping out momentarily then back in his hood.

"Uh, guys. The computer?" Reminding everyone of why they were there in the first place, Leon opened up the way to the secret computer room. Here, Tifa stood banging her fists repeatedly onto the keyboard fiercely.

"Woah, don't destroy it! Where's Cloud by the way?" Leon moved Tifa away from the console before she could unleash her fury of rapid kicks and punches on the system like she looked as if she was about to do.

"Who knows? He said he was going to take a little stroll outside of town half an hour ago." Tifa folded her arms huffing impatiently looking forward a blue screen flashed across the screen similar to Cid's computer met their eyes.

"Probably catching up on his Heartless kill count. Can't be surpassed by me now can he?" Sora quipped. After defeating Sephiroth finally, Cloud had taken to being more upbeat and positive, or well at least as upbeat as a guy who had been tormented by ghosts of his past could be.

"Anyway, here's the problem. No communication from Tron whatsoever and the system won't respond to any commands given." Tifa informed however Sora was already well on his own way to banging on the system in Tifa's place bellowing Tron's name.

"Look Sora, we're just as worried as you are about Tron, but banging on the computer is not going to work." Riku said spinning his friend around on the spot to face him.

"I know. But we have to do something!" Sora looked over at the rest of his friends. Donald and Goofy also both looked concerned for Tron, they over anyone else in the room would understand how he felt right now.

"Right now I don't think we can do anything. At best we can upload a back up program to function as the OS in place of the actual system though it may take some time to make, that's according to Cid." Leon clarified. Kairi walked through the door to the Heartless Manufactory, or what was left off it as nothing remained but rubble.

"You destroyed it." Kairi's announcement followed everyone also peering into the room.

"We tried to shut it down at first but we didn't want it falling into the wrong hands so we destroyed it three weeks ago," Leon said, "So Sora, what's your plan?"

Sora looked up at him away from the destroyed Heartless creation machine and then looked at Luna. The two pairs of eyes met briefly before Sora told him off his plans, "Visit Yen Sid and talk to him about what's happened so far. That's the first thing on my mind right now."

"I agree. But before that you probably want to rest up." Leon advised leaving the room.

"They can stay here if they want. We've got quite a lot of rooms available." Ienzo suggested showing them outside Ansem's room in the corridors where multiple doors stood opposite each other before going into the study room.

"Sounds great to me." Kairi said checking out one of the rooms, they seemed quite spacious enough, but then again it was a castle.

"Right, Tifa's also staying here so at least you'll be safe. You can explore the rest of the town if you like. I'll be in the computer room in the meantime though if you need me." Leon told them before walking back into the study.

"Wait a second, what do you mean by 'at least you'll be safe'? Are you insinuating something?" Even clambered stopping Leon in his tracks.

Leon looked back at Even and then forwards again, "Whatever." And with that he walked back into the computer room.

Even's eye twitched furiously as the others walked by him, "Honestly, what's happened to respect for your elders these days? Turning your back on someone when they're talking to you, why I never," Even looked over at the report on his desk before turning to Ienzo, "Would you be so kind as to bring me some tea my dear Ienzo. I fear we're in for a long day."

* * *

Luna dragged her head up and down without paying much attention as Donald explained to her the fundamental basics of magic. The two of them, as well as Sora, were currently in what they found the best place to train: the castle gates, just outside the outskirts of town. Sora had told her not to worry much yet she couldn't deny she had worries, whether they were about learning magic primarily, she did not know yet. There was still the case of the alleyway she wanted to investigate and she planned to take Sora there. It was better she tell him about her dreams during their walk than later, she had decided and it seemed like Sora wanted to talk to her as well anyway.

"You got it?" Donald finished finally giving a questioning gaze towards Luna who seemed obvious to be elsewhere.

"Yeah, I got it. Though I don't really think I needed that long speech." Luna told him summoning her Keyblade. She knew she would also have to work on her style of wielding at some point seeing the rest of the group battle so dynamically, whereas she was all over the place.

Donald remained unconvinced and smiled slyly, "Then show me. Fire magic. Now."

Luna pointed Dream Seeker at the big area in front of her leading out to the Great Maw, "Fire!" Nothing happened.

"So you weren't listening then?" Donald proclaimed smug of himself while Sora assumed the role of Leon, leaning against the wall and chuckling softly.

"Well, you know it's kind of hard when you're blabbering non-stop. I can't tell the useful information from the useless." Luna shot back and tried the spell again multiple times meeting failure each time.

"It was all useful!" Donald shouted managing to lift himself of the ground for surprisingly quite some time to show his frustration.

"Okay, I promise I'll listen this time. Go ahead." Luna turned her head away from the duck's spluttering before cooling her own self down and trying to pay full attention.

"Okay, magic has many different forms and types, each with their own use," Donald began again quite shrewdly, "you'll only be able to master the basics for now but over time you'll be able to use any of the others-"

"Amazing... text book definition." What appeared to be the sarcastic tone of a child's voice was heard from behind. Turning around, Donald, Luna and Sora came across two children in quite strange clothes, certainly not the style in Radiant Garden at least.

"Oh be quiet Palom, he is so insufferable at times, I'm so sorry for that." The girl in the pair smacked her brother across the back of the head who himself gave way to another complaint only to be silence with the threat of another back hand.

"Uh, sorry. Who are you?" Donald enquired not really impressed by their garbs. He was in fact quite resisting the urge to laugh.

"Of course you've never heard of us yet and rightly so. But soon we will become well renowned sorcerers of unimaginable power." The boy known as Palom said pulling off a mighty accent.

The girl glared at him before turning back to the trio and smiling, "In other words, my twin idiot of a brother Palom and I'm Porom. Nice to meet you."

"Ah... okay then. And?" Donald said not knowing what to think of the fact that the brother had just called himself a sorcerer.

"Is the Keyblade Master among you? Ah, there you are," Porom went over to Luna seeing the Keyblade in her hand and shook her other hand gleefully, "I've heard so much about you from Master Yen Sid. It's nice to meet you."

"Master Yen Sid?" Sora and Donald jumped in at the same time.

"You know Yen Sid?" Sora asked getting the question out first before Donald.

"Indeed we do. We've become apprentices to him." Porom smiled proudly.

"After weeks, and weeks of convincing him that is." Palom added in rolling his right hand around in circles to emphasise his point.

Donald and Sora looked at each other before having enough and finally bursting out into fits of giggles. Luna put away her Keyblade, her hand still in Porom's.

Calming down just a tiny bit but not enough, Donald jumped in ahead of Sora this time, "Okay, first of all, you've got the wrong Keyblade Wielder. He's over there. Second, as if the great all powerful Master Yen Sid, the same who taught the King, would teach you. Must be someone else."

"Huh, I didn't know there were other Yen Sids out there. Anyway, I'm so sorry ma'am." Palom bowed in apology before heading over to the actual Keyblade Master who was still in uncontrollable fits. Porom waited for Sora to calm down before shaking his hand in the same enthusiastic and kind way she did Luna.

"If you can't believe it how about you go and ask him? I'm sure he'll vouch for us." Palom grinned putting his hands behind his head.

"Okay, first, why would Yen Sid pick you and second, how did you get here? By Gummi Ship? Is Yen Sid here?" Sora asked more serious now than before.

"Well, we did travel all the way from our world to his and he seemed fascinated by our enthusiasm to study. You can ask him the details if you see him. As for how we got here, we teleported." Porom answered stunning both Sora and Donald at her answer of teleportation.

Luna however seemed keen to no more, "You can teleport? Anytime?"

Porom shook her head, "Not exactly anytime. First of all you need to know exactly where you're going. Any vague answer isn't going to help the magic. It's also quite dangerous since you may end up lost in the lanes in between worlds. We had quite an idea about this world when we teleported as we had visited here with Yen Sid about two months ago. When we were going to Yen Sid to help us, we couldn't exactly picture the tower well so we ended up in quite a different place, Twilight Town. It was really scary."

"I wasn't that scared. I knew there was a train that would take us to his tower." Palom exclaimed to which everyone rolled their eyes clearly not believing him.

"Also, the magic requires a recharge period of quite some time depending on how far you travel from your current destination. There's at least a week for us here though I imagine the master doesn't have to wait as long since he's older." Porom finished explaining.

Sora nodded his head slowly, "I see. So you're going to have to wait at least a week before going back to him. So why did you come here?"

"We brought a message from Master Yen Sid telling you that he needs to see you effective immediately. Apparently the situation has changed, whatever that means." Porom pulled out a note and handed it over to Sora. The note pretty much described what Porom had just told him.

"Why didn't he come here to tell us instead?" Sora asked folding the note away and placing it in his pocket.

"You remember the point about teleportation taking up energy? Also the old man probably has a lot to do anyway, he probably wanted us to gain experience in travelling by ourselves or something." Palom stated.

Porom shook her head angrily, "He may be old, but he is powerful."

"And right now, he's teaching us to scrub floors. Not exactly what I had in mind when being taught by an all powerful sorcerer." Palom replied back sighing angrily.

"I'm sure the master means well. There has to be some lesson learned out of it. We just haven't figured it out yet is all." Porom convinced herself only to receive a murmur of disagreement from her twin.

"Sorry but you say you know magic. I'm kind of having a problem with the fire magic at the moment so I was wondering if you could teach me." Luna asserted her stance on the matter even further by summoning her Keyblade once again and holding it firmly in front of her showing Porom.

Porom's features lit up brighter than a light bulb however before she could talk Palom interjected, "That's my line of work. Offensive or black magic. I honestly don't see how you could mess up on fire but I guess it happens even to the best of us sometimes I suppose," Porom stepped forward and put his own hand forward, fire burst out of his hands, hitting the ground in front of Luna's feet and creating a scorch mark, "It's a destructive force, fire right? But don't focus on that. Instead feel the fire's warmth engulf your own body, let it spread through your body towards your finger tips and then release. I don't know how it channels through to a Keyblade but I imagine you'd only have to focus on that warmth entering the weapon instead of your fingers. Try it."

Luna nodded and spun her Keyblade around so the tip faced in front of her instead of to the side. She closed her eyes and used her happiness as a fuel for her warmth. As images of fire spread through her mind, she uttered the name of the spell. A projectile of fire shot out of her Keyblade straight ahead of her. However, it did not have the same effect as when Donald had shown her in Disney Town. The magic only travelled a metre _[1]_ or so before disappearing out of sight. Even so, she was still happy at her progress.

Palom rested his chin upon his hand and nodded his head slightly, "Not bad. Mind you, you'd probably die if you did that in actual combat so you might want to practice. Also you can't really expect the enemy to be that close by surely? I imagine the Heartless wouldn't be so foolish as to go right at you."

"Oh don't be so harsh Palom. You did great Luna." Porom encouraged clapping at Luna's success. While Luna could help but grin a little, she knew that Palom was right. She had to do a lot better than that if she wanted to stand a chance.

"Thank you Palom for the lesson. I'll try harder next time, I promise." Luna stated her thoughts aloud. Donald gawked at the abrupt ending of his own lesson.

"Not try. You will. If you just try, it may as well be all over. Not to put pressure on you of course." Palom answered wisely.

"Of course." Luna answered sarcastically. It was very much a lot of pressure.

"To be fair to her. The Heartless react on instinct anyway so that short distance should be fine when they're coming at her. No pressure either." Sora commented putting his hand on Luna's shoulder.

Luna grimaced at the thought but set it aside for now. Turning back to the twins she asked, "So what are you two going to do now?"

Porom glanced over to Palom for a second before answering, "I think we're going to stay here for a while and help the town out. Nothing like gaining experience and mapping out worlds so we know more about them."

"Also, we get to fight Heartless but details..." Palom said quickly and jumped away to avoid another hit from Porom.

"Okay, have fun everyone. Say hello to the master for me will you." Porom asked waving before dragging her brother off back towards the restoration site. Luna waited for a while before looking back towards Sora and Donald.

Donald, who still had his bill wide open at the time, soon closed it, "I need a break. I'm going back to find Goofy. You guys coming?"

Luna was quick to answer, "No actually, um, Sora and I need to go to check something out."

Sora looked at her questioningly before receiving a wink from the girl, "Oh right, yeah. I did say that didn't I?"

Donald looked at the two weirdly at first before shrugging it off and walking off leaving the two by themselves.

"Right. I need to find something Sora. Can you help me? In the meantime, I'll tell you everything." Luna said impatiently waiting for Sora's answer.

Sora looked straight into Luna's eyes and saw worry. He soon smiled, "Sure. I don't see why not. Anything to keep away from Even and Dilan longer."

* * *

**So, originally the chapter name of this title was something different but because I didn't want to spend 11,000 words getting to said point you'll see that in the next chapter instead which hopefully will be out soon. **

**As for the new name, it's supposed to refer to the halt in progress of redevelopment of the town due to the OS crashing. I know, rather subtle. **

**[1] For those who don't use the metric system, 1 metre would equal 3 feet so you have a rough idea of how short range that fire magic was.**

** Thanks for reading and please R&R, thanks.**


	12. Stars in Her World

**Here comes the continuation of Radiant Garden. Thankfully, you didn't have to wait as long this time for another chapter to come by. Hopefully I can also get to work on Chapter 13 soon but until then R&R and enjoy :)**

* * *

Chapter 12

Stars in Her World

Luna explained everything to Sora that had happened so far. She didn't hold back, or rather she couldn't because in a way she felt the burden was too heavy to bear on just her own shoulders. Sora did not say anything during this time, only listened as she told him about her dreams, including him being in the dream with the station and the other girl in her dreams. She also voiced concerns that her world may have been lost to the Heartless as well.

"Well we'll never know until we look. Stay positive Luna. I will find your world for you," Sora started after she finished her speech, "As for the dreams. The station one, I can vouch for. I've been there before. But with your friend, I'm not really sure. You're saying that you were separated here? Then why can't this be your home world?"

Luna lowered her head and eyed the ground, "I'm not really sure but... it doesn't feel like I've seen much of this place before, other than where I went in the dream. Still, it's only a dream. It may not even be real."

Sora and Luna now entered the unexplored part of the town that they had passed on their way up stairs. This area, Sora had never been to before though it seemed to have been blocked off when he had last come here. Apparently it had been blown apart.

"But you met me right? And I first appeared in your dream. I don't think I've seen you before so you can't rule out that the dreams might be telling you something." Sora concluded meanwhile looking left and right at the new area. This part of the town seemed probably the least refurbished with a dark purple ground contrasting easily with the bright stone pavement seen in the previous area. The road ahead was straight forward going only in one direction yet caving off into different sections behind the houses. Like most areas of Radiant Garden, there seemed to be a huge lack of population in the area. More than likely Leon had told everyone to keep inside their homes until the situation with the system could be fixed.

"Remember this?" Sora asked summoning his Keyblade in case any Heartless popped out.

Luna shrugged hesitating slightly, "Hmm, not sure. I was running in the dream..." She stepped forward once at a time, not really sure if it was because she was nervous or perhaps because she probably didn't want to find out at all now. If the body of the girl known as Astra was still in that square alley, could she even bare to find out at all? No, she had to press on, she wanted the truth and the only way she would get it was by facing it head on.

"Okay, it didn't seem that far in the dream. It should be close." Luna started into a jog and ran diagonal to the houses on the right. Just as she got near to one, a group of Soldiers popped out surrounding her. Flinging his Keyblade, Sora managed to take out all three of the ones behind her. Luna summoned her Keyblade and pointed it at one of the Soldiers in front of her.

"Fire!" Luna shouted trying to spread the warm of fire through her Keyblade quickly. The spell connected with the Heartless in the middle taking it out. Sora had been right, the Heartless liked to close in as if it were the number one priority instead of trying to stay alive. She quickly disposed off the other two Soldiers using physical attacking and backed up in order to stay close to Sora.

"Great work. Keep it up Luna." Sora complimented putting the Kingdom Key on his shoulder to support it.

"You know you're going to have to spar with me one day to help me get better at this right?" Luna slashed through the air playfully with her Keyblade.

"Yep, already got my plans for your rigorous and stressfully demanding training in my head." Sora laughed before looking on ahead. These kind of times were always the quietist, he found, when the Heartless threat was made well aware of and people often never left their homes. The last time he had been here was just before he had left to Destiny Islands after beating the seekers of darkness and the whole town was bustling with activity and celebration. Now the only place which really seemed alive was the marketplace where they had landed.

"I can do without the rigorous and stressfully demanding parts thanks." Luna smiled back at him for a second before fixating back on her primary objective at the time. Continuing her light jog routine, Luna moved past each house quickly shaking her head if something didn't agree with her. As they passed through, they both noticed people looking out of their windows, their eyes directed straight at the Keyblade Master himself. Luna couldn't help but snicker slightly at Sora's annoyance at the whole thing. Clearly it was bothering him though she had to admit, he was doing a good job of not conveying it.

"Here!" She indicated suddenly pointing to the narrow space between two of the houses only a quarter of the way from where the two had started.

Sora looked into the divide himself, while he couldn't deny the lack of free movement would probably be creepy, he couldn't see how it was any different from the other buildings they passed, "How did you know it was this one?"

"I kind of just guessed. It's fuzzy but I know I definitely passed this lamp post," Luna nudged her head in the direction of the lamp post parallel to the house next to her, it was actually rather reminiscent of those from Traverse Town, "So it would be somewhere onwards from here. So if we start from here and work our way downwards we should find it."

Sora nodded before putting away his Keyblade, turned his body horizontally and tried to swiftly move through the confined and slightly claustrophobic space. Luna however was less inclined to move at the pace of Sora, with seeds of doubt already being implanted in her mind.

* * *

Riku slumped to the floor in fatigue from having to hear what had to have been Even's fourth rambling of the day. How could one person tire out another so quickly just through the art of speaking? Slithering over to the table, he managed to pick himself up and sit down before banging his head on the table repeatedly. While he had admitted that most of these actions were pointless and completely over-exaggerated, it seemed natural to him when dealing with the blonde haired scientist opposite. He deeply regretted choosing to stay in the study over Kairi's niggling concerns over her Keyblade training, mind you the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. With the King missing and... this nonsense that he had to put up with he'd rather had taken Kairi's offer over being here.

"You can't honestly be serious. Maybe I was wrong about you being Keyblade Master material." Even sneered as Ienzo set down two cups of teach for both Riku and Even, the latter who probably must have had at least two in advance.

"Please... just end it." Riku's fingers crawled for the handle of his teacup one at a time while Riku had his head down facing the table.

"Oh, that would be a bit too brutal. Though perhaps if you'd like to volunteer for experiment instead, I'd be able to gather some valuable data and perhaps, even create a replica this time who will share my passion for knowledge?" Even took a sip of his tea meanwhile as if simultaneously analysing Riku from behind the brim.

Finally grabbing the handle himself, Riku dragged the cup across the table before taking a sip trying not to make eye contact with the older man. Before Riku could concoct wild theories about the tea's connection to Even's sanity, the door to darkness drawing on the wall met the corner of his eyes and his eyes widened. Getting up from the table, Riku walked over to it and traced his finger over the drawing.

"Something's different about this diagram," Riku informed Even and Ienzo, "The whole thing has been retraced over with a marker," Even and Ienzo moved in closer. Indeed Riku was correct. The picture of the DTD and the words itself were much thicker and darker than they had been previously, "I take it, you two didn't have anything to do with it?"

"Of course not. We don't dabble in the dark." Ienzo responded profusely sweeping his arm aside to deny it.

"News to me. But, if you didn't do it, then who did?" Riku muttered before running into the computer room to meet up with Leon and Tifa. Informing them of the situation, the pair walked back along with Riku, Even and Ienzo.

Riku awaited the fated verdict with bated breath as Leon studied the diagram closely, "Well... it definitely wasn't one of us. I'm surprised I've never noticed it before though. When do you think it was done?"

Riku gave it some thought before answering, "Well, you said you'd never noticed it before so it could have been any time at all in between these six months if you barely looked at the diagram."

"Whoever it was though apparently was after the door to darkness, otherwise they wouldn't have bothered doing that." Tifa took a guess which was actually pretty safe to assume.

"But why would they risk it? Is there any camera footage which may show our culprit?" Riku tried to provide more and more questions only to realise that it was there were many possible answers to them.

"We only have a camera in the computer room and even then. We can't access it, the system crash?" Leon reminded him. Riku moved back to the table and sat down rather calmly. Something was going on and he didn't like it, the 'coincidences' were too close together to actually consider them coincidences and he had a feeling that something bad was about to transpire. He took another sip of his tea. If there was ever any need for Even's magical insanity, now would be the time.

* * *

Sora finally managed to find the exit of the long path, slipping out quickly followed by Luna. They were lucky in finding what they wanted the first time as Luna pointed out one black cloak laying out in the open. Picking up the cloak, Sora took note of its similarity to the cloaks used to go through darkness.

"Right, I was wearing this at some point in my dream but... how did I get it? Also there's supposed to be another one. That's the one the other girl was wearing." Luna looked around elsewhere other than the cloak. The ladder was still in its place leading up to the roof and everything else seemed normal.

Sora didn't want to be sceptical about his new friend but he was rather intrigued as to why she was wearing the cloak in the first place. If it was the same exact one as what the man in black had been wearing then was it possible she was... no, the last thing he wanted to do was second guess a friend, especially one who had lost her memory.

"So, did you find anything else?" Sora asked throwing the coat back on the ground.

"I'm going to go check the roof. Cover me." Luna told beginning her ascent up the ladder. She was halfway up when suddenly the ladder shook extremely violently and she lost her footing and fell, luckily she managed to catch one of the rungs a bit lower down.

"Luna!" Sora yelled as the female girl clung on to the ladder desperately. Luna screamed as she tried to steady herself properly. Looking down frantically, she checked for the source of the unnatural shake. Was it an earthquake?

Suddenly Sora was lifted off his fit, hitting the back wall. "Sora!" Luna screamed trying to come back down but finding it hard to do as her hands shook uncontrollably.

"I'm fine," Sora called back in response summoning his Keyblade quickly. Of course other than the earthquake, it had the potential to be something else. Sora had not fought one of these since in Olympus Coliseum when he had first started out, "Listen Luna. This thing can blend in to the environment. Don't let it catch you off guard."

"I kind of think it already did." Luna squeaked managing to get down the ladder quickly and running around the area to Sora's side.

The chameleon or Stealth Sneak as it had been referred to in Jiminy's Journal moved in quick steps towards Sora and Luna.

"Move to the right!" Sora yelled and the two ran opposite ways. Hearing a crash coming from the walls, Sora hit the Heartless with a combo before jumping away. Luna summoned the Dream Seeker and sent a fire towards where the Stealth Sneak appeared to be, though it didn't seem to hit, disappearing a few seconds after it was launched. Luna shook her head disappointed with herself before jumped in to attack the invisible creature as well. It was a few seconds before she was slapped away by the Stealth Sneak, her Dream Seeker a few ways off from her current position. She had gotten too careless. Moving forward quickly, she tried to get to her Keyblade however ended up dodging two lasers which seemed to come from the Stealth Sneak's eyes. The lasers instead hit the wall of one of the houses blowing it to pieces.

"Argh! Was it waiting to ambush us or something?" Sora growled jumping in front of Luna to shield her while she ran for her Keyblade. A metal clang hit the Kingdom Key as Sora was pushed backwards slightly from the contact with the guard. Luna grabbed Dream Seeker from the ground and jumped slashing the Stealth Sneak on the back. There was a roar and the creature's cloaked form wore off revealing a giant green lizard with its tongue extending out to slap Sora, though the brunette managed to barely dodge the tongue and fire dashed into it, causing the lizard to roar in pain and retract its tongue quickly. Luna took this as a means of getting in free hits and did so, mixing in a combination of physical and fire. She had to admit she was getting a lot better at casting the magic quickly. The range however, was something else entirely.

Another pair of lasers shot out of the Stealth Sneak's eyes which were knocked back by the Kingdom Key hitting its originator. The vibrant green lizard hissed and used its tail to knock Luna away who had been hitting from the back at the time. She hissed as she felt a sting in her arm.

"Cure!" Sora said moving back to Luna quickly. Luna looked quizzically at her partner before her face melted into that of content. Whatever Sora had done, her arm seemed much better. Uttering her thanks, Luna quickly pulled Sora and herself away from a swipe from the Heartless. Its movements became spastic jumping from place to place, "I think we disabled its camouflage, which is good. Let's finish it off."

Luna nodded and moved in closer to the Stealth Sneak. It was as if her movement was not her own as she found some sort of new found energy and managed to dodge the Stealth Sneak's incoming attacks. It moved in close thrashing its arms about however Luna jumped to the right of it and hit it with fire by its side making it collapse onto the ground. Sora rushed in, jumped up and stabbed the lizard in its back before jumping backwards. The Heartless let out a final roar before it vanished, a heart flowing into the sky.

"We beat it!" Luna panted heavily summoning away Dream Seeker and sitting on the ground for a rest.

"Yeah. Still want to take a look up on that roof?" Sora asked looking over to the ladder. Luna nodded slowly but stayed still for quite some time just trying to catch her breath.

A minute or so passed of the two just enjoying each other's company. Luna could see stars beginning to pop out as the night sky darkened.

"Sora. This may surprise you but even if I find my home world first, I don't exactly want to go there yet. I want to see the stars, the worlds out there. Does that sound weird to you?" Luna reached for a star and ended up enclosing her hand around several.

"No, I felt that way as well when I first travelled." Sora looked up into the sky looks at the stars as well.

"You don't now?" Luna asked drawing her hand back and looking at Sora.

"No, I mean, that's not the point. Luna, when you're travelling up there, in that big vast ocean and one of your friends is on an island no special than any other world out there while the other is missing, more like hiding, you just kind of can't help but wonder when you'll see home again. It's all so much to take in and it gets really overwhelming after a while. Of course, it's better when you have friends with you..." Sora trailed off wondering where that statement came from. Here he was just discussing all these feelings he had harboured on his previous journeys to a girl he had just met.

Luna smiled dreamily, "So then take me with you. Let's see the stars together. My world can wait for now but, for now I want to experience that 'big vast ocean' you were talking about. You, me, the others and anyone else we meet along the way. We may never meet again after I find my world, so let's make it last while it counts."

Sora looked back at Luna bewildered, "Wait a minute. Where did that come from?"

"The same place your corny line came from." Luna said playfully pushing Sora away from her. Getting up, she walked over the ladder and climbed once more.

_Climbing to the stars._ She thought blissfully as she finally reached the top. What she found next was more than surprising. What possibly was an ice cream stick lay by itself on the ground in front of her with writing on it. It read only one word.

"Found anything?" Sora shouted from down below.

Picking up the stick she smiled and responded by shouting, "Apparently I just became a winner."

* * *

The big day was finally upon her. Luna brushed her long brown hair thoroughly before tying it up into a ponytail. After moving her fringe towards the left, she took time to compose herself. She had been rather disappointed about yesterday to say the least. While she had found the Ice Cream stick, it really had given her nothing to go on. It could have been from anyone who had been on that roof after all. Still, she stowed it away in her pocket, just in case it did have relevance. The only other thing on her mind at the scene was the missing coat. Whether the one left behind was hers or the other girl's, didn't really seem to make a difference because she fairly remembered both being the same. In fact, she remembered the man in Traverse Town also had taken under a similar guise.

"Come on Luna. Forget that. Think about today." Luna told herself giving the best smile of confidence she could possibly muster in the mirror. After they had returned back to the castle, Luna, Sora, Kairi, Donald and Goofy had been informed by Riku on the suspicious redrawing of the DTD diagram. While Luna couldn't exactly say anything as having never seen it before, Sora was quick to jump on this speculating idea after idea. Overall though, she was thankful when Sora had chosen not to directly answer the others question on where the two had been.

Luna dashed out of her bedroom which she had shared with Kairi the night previously and met up with everyone in Ansem's study. Like many other questions still to be asked, she had no idea who Ansem was however apparently he hadn't been seen since Xehanort's defeat, according to Leon yesterday.

"Ready Luna?" Sora asked her as she came in through the door. Currently everyone was gathered around the room except for the restoration committee who they would meet on their way back before leaving.

"More than ever I guess." Luna smiled softly not really sure if she was in fact ready yet, in all honesty she had considered running back to her room quite a few times before she had entered.

Tifa, sensing her hesitation smiled at her, "Well no taking it back now. That Keyblade is gonna stay with you and as long as you have it, you'll have to be ready."

"Oh dear. I suppose that's supposed to make me feel better?" Luna couldn't help but turn as pale as a ghost at hearing this.

Sora interjected before Tifa could put forward her next blow to Luna's morale, "Uh, I think we should be going now. Well, it was nice meeting you guys again."

"It's a shame we couldn't see Cloud though but tell him we said hi." Goofy mentioned with Sora nodding in response.

"Of course. If he ever comes back." Tifa pounded her fists together making Sora, Donald and Goofy gulp. The three all knew how strong Tifa could be when normal. They did not want to see her angry. The glint in her eyes told them all they needed to know and that she wouldn't take prisoners when coming in to contact with the spiky haired blonde. And if anyone came in her way...

"Yeah... just try to go easy on him," Sora laughed nervously backing away slowly, "Anyway, come on guys. Let's go."

Riku, who had been silent for quite an unusual time, soon spoke up, his words shocking Sora, "Sora. Kairi and I have been thinking and we've decided that we're going to stay here for a while."

Sora's face twisted into that off affliction, "What?" He managed to say softly.

Riku was unable to meet Sora's eyes as he tried to explain, "Well Kairi needs training. In both magic and melee. I'm useless at magic, but Merlin said he could help her there. I myself need to do some more investigation into this. The town is in danger, the number of Heartless are increasing and the system's crashed. Along with that diagram, I can't strike this off as a coincidence. Both of us," He pointed to Kairi who was quite silent as well, "need to make sure the town is safe, at least until the system is back up and running."

"No, it's okay. I understand. This place is kind of like a second home to us in a way. I don't want to see anything bad happen to it either." Sora replied quickly throwing his head down while talking. Kairi, with also a pained expression on her face, couldn't take it anymore and ran over to embrace him.

"I'm sorry Sora. I just need- I just want-" Kairi tried to formulate the correct words however the product was sobs on Sora's shoulder. The two both had the same thought on their mind. They had been separated by their island's destruction and had only just seen each other again for three days and already they were going their separate ways once again.

Sora however had no time for tears, "Listen Kairi. I'm sorry that I neglected to help you train back on Destiny Islands. Just do your best for me alright. You know we'll always be together even if we're apart right?"

"Still trying to act the hero huh? Listen," Kairi pulled away from Sora and wiped the tears from her eyes, "I know I'll see you again so I won't cry while you're away. Just find the King... and Luna, I hope you get your memories back and I hope I see you again." Kairi and Luna shared a hug which hopefully was the first of many to come.

"Thank you Kairi. Good luck with your training." Luna said parting with the red head.

"Wow, the mood feels so depressing now. We'll see each other again so lighten up already." Donald pointed out smiling.

"Donald's right. I never thought I'd say that." Riku said engaging a fist bump with Sora. They didn't need to say anymore than that. They had both had their ups and downs in the past but the two were always there for one another when they needed it most. So when Sora looked over to Kairi, Riku understood clearly what it meant. The same words he had told Sora back when Xehanort's Heartless had created the artificial door to Kingdom Hearts were now being told without them. Take care of Kairi.

"Of course, you are going to be seeing us off right?" Sora asked putting both arms around his two oldest friends.

"Of course we will. You _are_ completely hopeless without us." Kairi answered feeling much better now.

"Oh thanks." Sora responded sarcastically yet at the same time smiling throughout.

* * *

Everyone with the exclusion of Tifa, Even, Ienzo, Dilan and Aeleus were now crowded up in Merlin's house.

"Dad, I think I'm gonna stay here for just a bit longer, if you don't mind of course." Max said. He had no doubt also thought about his position just like Riku and Kairi had.

"Well that's okay son. But just remember, study, brush your teeth, change your underwear and also-"

"Okay, okay. I get it, thanks." Max cut off his father feigning a mixture of embarrassment and angst.

"Also kid, take these. Use 'em sparingly." Cid handed three bottles to Luna which she immediately recognised as Hi-Potions from Huey, Dewey and Louie's shop in Traverse Town.

"Thanks Cid." Luna took them though wasn't really sure where to store them.

"Here, you can use my bag. Bring it back intact." Max told her pulling out the contents from his rucksack. She thanked him and stored the potions in it.

"It's been nice seeing you guys again. Luna, we really should hang out some time when you come back." Yuffie winked at the girl.

"A friend of Sora's is a friend of ours. I hope you find what you're looking for." Aerith said smiling gracefully. All these comments stunned Luna. She hadn't even seen them for a day and they were already acting as if she was an old friend. She wanted to say something, but nothing could come out. She didn't want their high expectations to be dashed away the next time they met and yet she couldn't say anything, that maybe she wouldn't be able to make it back. Instead, she let out a genuine smile. One to say thank you and that she would be coming back. Because she believed she could. If she was standing here, in another world and the next day in another, then she could also believe that she would make it back. She would survive and see the stars, the worlds.

"Time to go!" Donald unpacked the words which would start Luna's journey in earnest. Nodding his head, Sora gave a thumb up to everyone, "See ya next time." Luna managed to take one last good look at everyone, her new friends, before they disappeared from the view of the town below.

* * *

**Can't really say I have anything to comment on in this chapter except for splitting Sora from Kairi and Riku. Once again he won't be travelling with them. Oh why am I so harsh :( **

**Don't worry though, they will get their due. You'll just have to wait a... long time...**

**On a lighter note, next chapter will see Sora, Luna, Donald and Goofy visiting Yen Sid and there shall be a lot of questions asked and some answered so please look forward to it :Tries to pull of Nomura's laugh:**


	13. The Lone Star

**Another chappie here with a consistent word count to that of the previous one. This chapter pretty much outlines what lies ahead in Sora's journey as well as meeting Yen Sid. Thanks for reading, please R&R and the next chapter will be up soon.**

* * *

Chapter 13

The Lone Star

Luna flicked through page after page of Jiminy's Journal reading thoroughly each past event of Sora and the others. After asking for the journal from Jiminy, she received three. While everyone else had gone to sleep, she opted to stay up while the auto pilot was turned on. The pages were littered with detail on information about journeys, worlds and their inhabitants and even information on the Heartless. She also couldn't help but giggle as she took in some of the comments Sora had made throughout the book. Primarily she enjoyed the little alterations of Jiminy's Heartless illustrations such as the moustache Sora had added to the shadows and Neo Shadows.

Moving on to the second journal, this was one that covered Sora's journey from waking up in a world called Twilight Town to defeating Xemnas. More worlds, more people, more Heartless and even a new type she had not seen before yet, Nobodies. She definitely found the concept of them quite interesting and wondered if it was even possible, being without hearts. While she herself couldn't exactly say what the heart entailed, she knew she had one and couldn't really imagine what it would be like to meet someone who didn't.

_Creepy, probably._ Was the first word that came to her mind that she could think of. She continued to read through the pages, her eyes reflecting with knowledge which she admitted was hard to take in at first, but soon warmed up to because of the fact that it was so interesting. Again, Sora's comments were humorous and always a pleasure to read. There was also an inclusion of a comic called Angry Duck somewhere in the middle which more than likely was a parody of Donald. Though it was more hilarious at how badly drawn it was, not that the content wasn't funny either.

Moving onto the third and final book, she probably spent the most time on this. This one entailed Sora's venture in Castle Oblivion and then a large time skip to his adventures while trying to stop Xehanort from initiating what would be a second Keyblade War. The one that struck her intrigue most personally were the events in Castle Oblivion where Sora's memories had been manipulated with by a girl called Namine. Was what was happening to her now similar to what he had experienced? It was different at the same time however she found, for Sora had seemed to be gaining memories even if they were false in place of his real ones. She wasn't gaining anything at least as far as she could tell. Maybe the dreams, but it still wasn't the same thing. Remembering something from the second journal about Namine, she went back to cross reference, finding out from her profile as described by Jiminy that she was the Nobody of Kairi.

"But... how?" Luna whispered. Kairi was apparently a Princess of Heart, one of seven who had no darkness in their heart and were the key to opening the door to darkness. So if a Nobody could be created when the heart is swallowed by darkness and turns into a Heartless, wouldn't it then be impossible for Kairi to have one?

The answers to Luna's question were actually found in the final journal under Namine's section. Here she came to find out that the Nobody known as Namine was created under special circumstances. Sora had also made a Nobody named Roxas but at the same time had Kairi's heart inside him. Releasing his, Kairi's and another person, Ventus' hearts, he somehow created Namine, so she was no more Kairi's Nobody than Sora's. The other heart, Ventus, had gone into Roxas' body essentially not making him a Nobody. The Secret Ansem Reports which were at the back of this journal pretty much confirmed this. Regardless, she made a mental note to investigate more into Namine later. Continuing on with the journal, she read the next pieces of detailed information with enthusiasm. The 13 Seekers of Darkness against the 7 lights, the forging of the X-Blade, rescuing their friends who were described to be hurting, Kingdom Hearts and the disappearance of Ansem the Wise after the battle. This left an utterly bemused Luna at the end twirling around in the swivel chair multiple times and trying to absorb what she had just read. She rubbed her eyes and tried to resume concentration.

Turning over to the next few pages, she found them empty, surprising considering how Sora had used up those pages in the last two journals. Then again maybe he had not had enough time to work on it.

_Jiminy probably won't mind if he's using a new one. _Luna decided, grabbing the pen on top of the console panel and thought of what she could do. She really wasn't sure what to write and even though she criticised Sora for his drawing, as far as she could tell, she probably wasn't any better.

"Eh, stick figures should do the trick." Luna nodded to herself trying to figure out what to draw. She finally settled on what was right in front of her. It was impossible in real life of course, but her flying past worlds without the use of transportation was certainly possible in her dreams. The worlds themselves were represented as stars and in the middle, her, smiling as she sailed past them. Moving over to the next page, she decided to draw her with her new friends. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, Max, Jiminy, Shiki, Huey, Dewey, Louie and Scrooge. She felt these were all people she had felt connected to so far. She would have added Leon and the others except for the fact that all the others had taken up the entire page. Entitling the drawing as 'My friends', Luna closed the journal and set her head on the head rest. As she drifted off to sleep, she could only think about how unfortunate Sora's life had been and how it still seemed as if he was hardly affected. She doubted even she could live like that.

* * *

_The sun's beautiful glow lit up Luna's features as she sat on a beach. Shoes aside, feet inside water and letting the heat hit her face. She was currently dressed in what seemed like a school uniform with her tie hanging loosely from its collar. _

"_Really Sea Salt? You've been coming here a lot lately haven't you?" Astra said walking in from behind. The girl, who had had short black hair falling to her shoulders in Luna's previous dream with her, now had long hair tied in a bun and was also wearing a school uniform. _

_Luna, who had her eyes closed before, opened them still smiling, "It's just so peaceful here. Better than school anyway." _

_Astra shook her head with a smug look on her face, "You seem really out of it these days. Is something wrong?"_

_Luna hesitated before looking back at her friend, "The truth is... I'm bored. Nothing to do at all. It's always the same things. I get up, go to school, and go back, you know, the same thing over and over again except with slight variations once in a while. I just need adventure and excitement in my life." _

"_Such a drama queen. Really? There's no point complaining about it now. You're stuck here like everyone else, okay?" Astra responded clearly annoyed with Luna's perception of life._

"_Oh come on. Don't lie to me and say you haven't had these thoughts before. You remember when you said that we should go to find Santa Claus? And even Atlantis?" _

"_You're talking about things which I've said five years ago or so? You can't be serious. There's no such thing as Santa Claus, and Atlantis is just a legend. Simple as..." Astra looked away for a second before sighing and eventually moving to sit beside her friend, "Look. Maybe I did think about it, but you have to face reality eventually Luna. I've thought about things and opened my eyes to the fact that adventure is what we make it. I mean how you spend your time is really an adventure in itself isn't it? We're faced with different problems everyday which we have to overcome, some harder than others." _

"_Only problem being that's not enough of an adventure for me. I need... something else." Luna refuted Astra's statement. She wanted the black haired girl to see from her point of view but if anyone knew, it was Luna that Astra was not one to usually give in other people's opinions._

"_So you're being selfish then?" Astra muttered digging her hand into the sand. _

_This comment upset Luna, "Selfish? I suppose I am then. If I want to be different from everyone else, then so be it. But at least I'm sticking to my dreams," Her voiced soon rose to the point where she felt like shouting, "In fact, I think you've changed a bit too much Astra. It's like you've given up. Whether it's your dreams or maybe even life itself I'm not sure which but you weren't like this even a few months ago." _

_Astra remained silent and instead stared at the ocean. Luna figured there was no point anymore and eventually laid down on the sand staring into the sky. _

"_It's beautiful isn't it? The sea I mean..." Astra said suddenly though Luna paid no mind to this, frustrated with her best friend's ignorance, "It can look so different in the morning compared to the night. Right now it's blue and sparkling like diamonds and then in a few hours it'll be orange with the same pristine quality."_

"_If you're making a point, get to it quickly." Luna said coldly. Frankly she wanted to burst into tears but she was stronger than that to let one person get her down, even if it was someone she dearly cared about._

_Getting up, Astra walked over to where two long red sticks were, a quarter of the way buried in the sand, "How about a spar? For old times' sake." _

_Luna's frown turned into a beam as she sat up and watched Astra pulling the sticks out of the ground for what felt like it had been a long time. _

* * *

"Wake up Luna."

Luna's eyes fluttered open and tried to focus on Sora who was to the side of her. Shifting slightly from her current position, Luna craned her neck to see getter a better view of him.

"Good morning. You sleep well?" Luna asked.

"I figured I'd be asking you that first. You seemed to be pretty busy with those journals last night." Sora commented sitting down in the seat.

Luna sat up properly and slid the journals over from in front of her over to Sora, "Sora, you've witnessed a lot. I kept wondering to myself while I was reading how you managed to face all of that and still come out alright."

"Wanna know the secret? I've got good friends." Sora told her smiling. Luna smiled back and would have been content to continue doing so had it not been for her recent experience.

"Sora, I've had another dream again, with the same girl. I was wondering, have you had dreams where you've felt like you're remembering things but when you wake up it doesn't make sense?" Luna asked slowly trying to figure things out as well.

Sora seemed quite puzzled by her question, "Not really sure what you mean. What was the dream about?"

"It was just me and her by a beach somewhere. And, around the end of the dream, I felt as if I hadn't done something in a long time. It gave me a nostalgic feeling, the only problem is, I can't remember why." Luna tried to explain. She wasn't really sure of what she was saying herself, but the feeling of nostalgia still reigned present somewhere in her thoughts.

Sora whistled as he tried to remember some of his own dreams, "Yeah. I've had dreams before where I've felt like I done something but can't really remember where, when or even if I ever done it. Probably the weirdest I've felt was when I was sleeping in a pod about a year and a half ago."

"After the events in Castle Oblivion." Luna recalled from the journal evoking a nod from Sora who was glad that Luna had taken an interest to his travels.

"Yeah. But I did have dreams while sleeping. With a guy named Roxas in them who I soon found out of course, was my Nobody," Sora said turning his smile into a lopsided grin, "I was pretty much wondering why it felt so familiar to me even though I knew I had never done what he had before and I'm pretty sure he was wondering the same thing."

"Dreams are annoying." Luna Pouted.

"You can say that again." Sora agreed taking the journals and putting them in the rucksack where the potions were. Luckily this was situated right in between him and Luna's chairs so he didn't have to make much of an effort to get up.

"So, about that Keyblade training..." Luna started; she definitely still was not completely up from the way her voice dragged.

"Now? Here? I'm not sure that's a good idea." Sora stated worried that they would damage the equipment in the room. He did not need Chip and Dale on his case after he almost crashed the Gummi Ship into Tarzan's world with Donald.

"Just the basics Sora. I doubt they'd require moving around that much, right?" Luna suggested figuring it was best to start at the most basic like with magic.

Sora contemplated this few seconds, Luna's hitched breath signalling her waiting anticipation, "Well why not. I'll teach you to defend yourself if you're up to it."

"Great. And of course I'm ready for it. I'm a Keyblade wielder now. I have to be ready for anything." Luna jumped out of her chair, her tiredness seeming to leave her quickly as she summoned her Keyblade. Sora was glad that at least one of them was so jolly right now, especially about being a Keyblade wielder.

Sora eventually got up after checking that they were going in the right direction to Yen Sid's tower then also summoned his Keyblade.

"Uh, I'm not really good at teaching others but we'll start at defending which probably one of the most important things if you want to stay alive. So, show me how you guard?" Sora said wondering if he was suitable enough to teach her. After all, he had neglected training Kairi much on the islands and the help she did have, Riku was there to help him. Still, he decided to try his best, even if he had himself been self-trained.

"Guard? O-okay." Luna slid her left foot forward with some distance apart from her right and held her Keyblade with both hands at a diagonal with the tip pointing downwards(1).

"Nice. Did you just come up with that?" Sora asked.

"Actually, I learned it from you. When you were fighting." Luna answered practicing her guard with a bit more confidence.

Sora smiled happy to know she was taking tips from boy, "I feel flattered. But you're going to have to move as well while guarding. The enemy won't stay in the same place all the time. I also wouldn't rely on guarding too much since they can attack from different heights as well," Sora got into his battle position surprising Luna out of her playtime, "Right; I don't have much space on this ship so this isn't gonna reflect real life much but still, all you need to do is parry my blows. Got it?"

"Got 'cha!" Luna replied, maybe a bit too confident she found as she got in the same battle stance as Sora. She was astonished when Sora started off slow attacking straight vertically down. Luna was easily able to block it by holding her hands at the both end points of the Dream Seeker and raising it up. Spinning it around, Luna grabbed the handle in time to block a horizontal swipe. The next few minutes were spent with Luna blocking in different ways and Sora giving advice here and there on how to improve. Steadily she made progress even if she knew Sora was going easy on her, but at least it was a start. Soon enough she became very friendly with such comments as "Bend your arm a little more" and "Make sure you include your footwork". While she hadn't exactly gotten those down yet, for example, not bending her arms enough at certain times, Sora was notice the increase in performance as the lesson went on.

"Okay, we'll stop for now." Luna eventually said after about five minutes of practice.

"You did great Luna. Keep it up." Sora congratulated putting his Keyblade away along with Luna.

"That footwork you were talking about, I think I would be able to do better if the space wasn't so cramped." Luna told him straightening her denim jacket and folding down her sleeves.

"Well, don't say I didn't tell ya." Sora remarked sardonically. Luna assumed Sora expected some sort of apology to make him feel better, however Luna wasn't about to let Sora get the satisfaction of an admittance.

"And don't say 'don't say I didn't tell ya' either Sora. I'm actually considering having a few more lessons on this here ship. I'm going to exhaust you out I'm afraid." Luna said smiling slyly, the result being Sora wanting to prune such a demonic thought away from her.

"Hey I need my rest. How'd you expect me to help you train if I tire out." Sora rebutted.

"Oh, I'm sure we can figure something out. I'm hardly tired yet so I doubt you'll be..." Luna paused for a second resuming her thoughtful approach on her face, "So how exactly is Yen Sid?"

Sora put his hand up to his chin wondering the exact best way to describe him, "Powerful, wise, may be a bit scary when you first come upon him, you'd find it hard to believe he was once a Keyblade Master."

Luna appeared to be flabbergasted at this piece of information, "A Keyblade Master? So can he help get my memories back?"

The despondent Sora following her question sent Luna into a state of apprehension. Who was to help her answer about the riddle of her past if not even a former Keyblade Master knew?

* * *

Yen Sid's tower loomed up ahead as Sora, Luna, Donald and Goofy were teleported down from the Gummi Ship to near the entrance. The first thought which entered the tense girl's mind was creepy. Not the tower, but the fact that the area in itself seemed completely disconnected from anywhere. Turning backwards, she found train tracks, but not much else and even then, the tracks seemed to go nowhere. The only other things in sight were green hills in the far distance and they didn't seem to be connected to anything either.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Luna asked slowly looking down below the train tracks. It went on into endless orange and Luna somehow doubted that was good.

"Of course, looks the same as always." Donald said inspecting what seemed to be every inch of the place as the group made their way forward.

"Still looks kinda creepy doesn't it?" Jiminy popped out of Sora's hood and onto his shoulder to say.

"Not helping Jiminy." Sora replied evoking an 'Ooh' sound from Jiminy before he mimicked zipping his mouth.

The tower itself appeared as crooked as always to Sora, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy. Opening the doors of the tower revealed a small round room with the staircase spiralling up into Yen Sid's study. The journey this time had been rather simple compared to Sora's first journey up the tower when Pete had wanted to turn the wise sorcerer into a Heartless. No Heartless this time seemed to be present though Sora had assumed that Yen Sid would have taken the necessary precautions to prevent further incidents like that happening in the future.

Yen Sid's study was probably the biggest room in the tower, stacked with shelves of books and in the middle of the room, Yen Sid himself sitting behind the study glowing with an aura of wisdom, not that you'd be able to see it but Luna could immediately sense it if not looking at the man, then by just taking the first step into the room.

"Master Yen Sid, we've come back." Goofy declared as he and Donald stood up straight and saluted.

Luna looking at the two and thinking that the man in front of her commandeered some sort of demeaning presence quickly followed in their footsteps, "Hello sir. My name is Luna and I-"

Yen Sid held up his hand to stop her and followed by waving them to relax. The three did so.

"Now, you're name is Luna? Is there something wrong my dear?" Yen Sid inquired. His rather calm disposition combined with the atmosphere helping Luna to calm down herself.

Luna pulled her arm in front of her and summoned Dream Seeker shocking Yen Sid, "I can wield one of these. The problem is my memory. It's gone. I can't remember much about myself except for my name and a few other things."

Yen Sid's big eyes soon closed and stroked his beard much in a similar way to Merlin, "It is always good to have another Keyblade wielder to protect the realm of light. As for your memory, I would not be considered for the extreme. It is most likely merely lost or misplaced, not gone forever. As you know what is lost can always be found hence you still remembering your name. You only need look in the right places."

"So then, I might be suffering from amnesia for a while to come then?" Asked Luna looking in between her Keyblade and the sorcerer, which just so happened to be the wooden table. She then summoned it away.

"I cannot give you answers on how to recover your memory but I shall tell you to stick close to Sora. He has been through many ordeals in the past. Being with him may help to influence your understanding of memories and their connection to the heart." Yen Sid stated opening his eyes once more landing on Sora.

Sora and Luna looked at each other for a second before Sora initiated an exchange of smiles, "Sure. Apparently I seem to be everyone's hero lately so what's one more under the belt?" Sora cracked causing Luna to laugh out loud.

A clear of the throat silenced her laughter, "Now let's get down to the matter of things. The King has disappeared. More than likely is kidnapped by an unknown force correct?"

Sora and Luna together summarised their journey so far, the attack on the islands, Luna in Traverse Town, the black coated figure sending out Heartless, what Riku was able to pick up at the scene where the King had been kidnapped, the OS shutdown of Radiant Garden and last but not least, the DTD diagram.

"I agree. Everything seems far too convenient especially when taken into consider the short amount of time in between each." Yen Sid answered Donald when the latter questioned him on the duck's thoughts of everything being connected; he of course was not the only one with that mentality.

"Also the radiation from the worlds that Chip and Dale mentioned too." Goofy reminded them.

"Yeah, they said they hadn't seen that before." Sora followed on not really sure what the radiation they had been speaking of was but assumed it had to be important enough for them to install the extra coating on the Highwind.

"There are dangerous times ahead of us. The stars tell me very little beyond what I knew before this happened. Not to mention the increase in Heartless leaves me wary. We must all take our next steps in great heed," All of them (excluding Yen Sid) inhaled deeply in order to control their nerves, some managed to accomplish this better than others, "For now though, your mission, Sora and Luna, is to go forth across the worlds, find the King, find out the reason for this Heartless incursion and Sora..."

Sora looked up quickly, "Yes?"

"For now, if you plan on going to any worlds which you have not yet been to, you might want consider sealing the Keyholes of the worlds again just in case something were to happen." Yen Sid smiled at him. The keyholes of the worlds had all proven safe when the End of the World had been destroyed after beating Ansem, Seeker of Darkness and stopping him from opening up his artificial hearts of the world's door to darkness. After that, most of the worlds had returned to their original state and there had been no need to seal anymore with the Keyblade. Now, as the Heartless population grew, it was clear to Yen Sid that they were working for something. The DTD diagram all the more supported his suspicions.

"Of course. What about the pathways?" Sora asked referring to the way of travelling from world to world.

"You will not have to worry about worlds which you have already been to, but for others, new pathways will open in time. As before, when a beam of light radiates from the Keyblade, the worlds will have opened up new gates for you to travel through." Yen Sid confirmed.

Sora did not need to know Luna was looking at him for an explanation, "The Keyholes are locked with the Keyblade. They were what the Heartless were after about a year and a half ago. The keyhole is the heart of the world. Corrupt the light there and the world falls into darkness. And the gates are just another way to travel to other worlds. We haven't passed through any yet though but we probably will soon."

"So then Sora, Luna. Are there any questions about your upcoming journey?" Yen Sid asked.

"It's not about the journey but, do you know Palom and Porom?" Luna questioned. Sora and Donald turned their heads attentively to Yen Sid.

"Ah, those two are mages in training. Pupils I reluctantly decided to take out first but now find myself quite enthralled by their ability to adapt and learn new things." Yen Sid answered.

"But how did they meet up with you?" Donald croaked still disbelieving of their so called talent.

Yen Sid mulled over his two apprentices, "Ah that is the most interesting part. Their world was destroyed. Swallowed in darkness by the Heartless."

"HEARTLESS?!" Sora, Donald and Goofy yelled out in surprise, Sora causing Jiminy to float several centimetres in the air before coming back down on his shoulder. No doubt they were starting to take back any doubts about the two twins.

"Yes. But they had heard of me they claimed from the King who once had visited the world on his travels and so sought me out. I had been traversing the lanes in between this world and Twilight Town when I came upon their bodies floating unconscious there. After they explained to me their position I was hesitant at first but soon after realising the means they took to reach here, that of one of the most powerful magic I saw only desire in their hearts, much like my previous apprentice, Mickey, so I decided to take them on for studying after careful consideration." Yen Sid finished. The whole group smiled sadly at the two siblings' tale, promising to make conversation with them when they next returned to Radiant Garden.

"Master Yen Sid, what about us?" Donald craned his neck towards Goofy as well who was just as worried that their names had not been called out.

Yen Sid smiled, "I have a special mission for you two but it must be done in secrecy." He pulled a letter from beneath his blue cloak and placed it on the table.

"Wait, so Donald and Goofy won't be coming along with us?" Luna asked not just for herself but for Sora, who once again fell into silence.

"They will be able to travel but they need to deliver this letter first back to Queen Minnie. They will be teleporting there but you can choose to decide where to meet up. Even so, they'll be doing more than just delivering this letter and it will take some time." Yen Sid told them.

"Sora..." Goofy began but Sora cut in quickly.

Sora smiled slightly before saying, "It's okay Goofy, Donald. We'll meet back at Radiant Garden after me and Luna go to see some worlds. And Jiminy of course, if you're up to it."

"Of course Sora. I need to chronicle your adventures after all." Jiminy said pulling out his pen. Sora nodded at the cricket and turned back to Yen Sid.

"We're ready?" Sora asked placing his hand on Luna's shoulder.

"We're ready." Luna smiled nodding back at Sora and Jiminy.

"See ya Sora, Luna, Jiminy." Goofy grinned.

"Don't have too much fun without us!" Donald bellowed smiling along with the dog.

Yen Sid could only stare as Sora and Luna walked out of the room before standing up and looking out of the window. The stars looked as lonely as ever, ironic considering how many there actually were among the sky and while that could only tell him so much, he was pretty much certain that this could only mean one thing. They were blinking out of existence again.

"Something does not feel right." He murmured. Donald and Goofy were barely able to catch what he said and with the end of that sentence, the smiles dropped from their faces.

* * *

**So, Donald and Goofy have also left along Riku and Kairi but don't worry. As the chapter says, they will rejoin the two on their adventures again. **

**-Since it is quite annoying to type Jiminy in every sentence, especially since he doesn't play much of a major part in any of the games except CoM and Re:Coded, he usually won't be mentioned unless he's talking or decided to get out of Sora's hood or shoulder. And who knows when that will happen... **

**The next chapter is Wonderland. And not the same Wonderland as in previous games either but it will add some interesting development for Alice and Luna so keep your eye out for it.**


	14. Darkness Around Every Corner Pt1

**So here we are again and starting Sora and Luna's journey in earnest. I hope to finish off Wonderland pretty quickly as I don't want the chapters to be spread two far apart but I will also try to make sure the quality of the story isn't harmed in the process. Not to mention school but that's besides the point. Anyway, have fun, R&R and please follow the story if you haven't yet, thanks :)**

* * *

Chapter 14

Darkness Around Every Corner Pt. 1

"Alice, are you even paying attention?"

A dazed 11 year old girl snapped out of her dreamy state whilst sitting on the grass leaning against the trunk of the tree. Her tutor had taken it upon herself recently to make sure that Alice took in at least half of the information now because for all her worth she had tried so many times to get the girl to focus on her studies and instead found her dozing off and thinking impossible things.

"Oh, I was just thinking about my encounter with the white rabbit." Alice said casually playing with her golden locks. Rested beside her was her faithful cat Dinah who purred into Alice's dress.

Her tutor sighed in a way which seemed to show it was a regular occurrence, "Oh, this nonsense again. I shouldn't expect any more from you, should I child?"

"But I tell you... it's all true, it really is. And I'll have you know I'm also a princess of heart... and this is a single world of many... and many other things which seem impossible but are possible." Alice countered petting her furry feline companion softly.

But the tutor would have none of it, "Nonsense, nonsense and more nonsense. None of which will help you later on in life might I add. This white rabbit of yours for example, can anyone vouch for his existence? Something I can actually relate to? Say a human?"

Alice thought it through carefully, who could possibly recount her experience in the place known as Wonderland? There was the queen though she wasn't exactly delighted to meet with her again. Suddenly it clicked in her head.

"A human? Okay how about a boy with spiky brown hair, a weapon called a Keyblade and the heart of a hero." Alice announced.

"Key- what? Heart of a- You may indeed exceed at poetry Alice but this is hardly the time for tall tales. Please, I would be delighted to know where this boy is. I know no one of that description in our town."

"But of course, you haven't met him. How could you know of someone you haven't met or heard of? It's impossible. And of course that word impossible comes up again, but surely that's in the eye of the beholder and not in general." Alice stated sagaciously.

This left the older woman in shock. Was Alice the one being taught here or was she? Regardless she knew before she could even try to make the blonde study she would have to get this 'twisted' fantasy out of her head. According to Alice's parents, several of her tutors had been fired and she was not about to be the next.

"Well then, where is he? Bring him to me immediately? Or is he just a figment of your dreams? Like 'Wonderland'?" The tutor managed to remain calm in her approach though took on a rather condescending tone.

"Well as I've said before, there are other worlds out there. He can't be in all of them at once can he? It might help to think outside of the box sometimes. Or outside this world for that matter..." Alice petted a bit too hard, causing the cat to shriek in anger though she paid no attention to this.

"Me? Think out of the box? Why dear Alice, it's you that needs to do the thinking, away from your dreams. They are distracting you from what you should actually be dreaming about, an education, your future."

Alice however cut her off quite quickly, "I'm sorry, a job? Future? Yes, while those are all quite nice, that is as you said, in the future. Though in the present, I'm quite capable of 'dreaming' all I want if I have to. But this whole future business sounds quite boring to me."

"Are you saying that you feel like you deserve special treatment over everyone? It's just not going to happen no matter how much you want it. Alice, get it out of your head, all of it. You're growing up and you can't afford to dilly dally all day." The tutor said snapping her book shut loudly in reflection of this.

"How about I show it to you? The rabbit hole I mean."

The tutor shook her head wanting to finish this argument quickly, "Alice, listen to me. There is no such thing as Wonderland. There is no Mad Hatter, or White Rabbit or a boy wielding a key and you're certainly no... Princess of whatever it was that you said. Now grow up and act like the young lady you should be. Now recite the rhyme on page 15. 'How doth the little crocodile...'"

* * *

The first time travelling on the Gummi Ship had been quite the experience, filled with wonder and excitement. The second time was just as good including the training. The third time for Luna, not so much. The Heartless battalion had appeared in large numbers as they headed to their next world. After learning how to use the guns on the side of the ship, Luna jumped on to the left seat and started shooting at the ships as they either tried to shoot back, or just plain ram into the Highwind. Sora however did manage to make things easier with his ability to fly the ship however the lack of mobility was taken huge notice of when it came to this fight. The best way Sora could explain it was as a delay, so he had to pull away slightly earlier then before the Heartless could hit them. The problem however being, that this meant it would be a complete guess as to when the Heartless would try to shoot them and so Sora had to be constantly swerving the ship from left to right and hope for safety. The constant shift in position made it quite hard for Luna to successfully destroy the Heartless ships with the normal gun however this is where the thunder laser blaster came into play. The thunder blaster locked on to enemies and released a laser powerful enough to take out any of the Heartless ships in one hit. Luna found that a constant manoeuvre between regular guns and the blaster seemed the most appropriate option as the normal guns still had its uses, one being that they could take out any of the ships trying to ram them.

"Is it always this exciting?" Luna said admitting that while it wasn't the type of journey she had hoped for, it was still fun.

"Of course, taking out some Heartless and visiting new places only to find more Heartless all in a day's work." Sora replied and he barrel rolled quickly out of the way to dodge an asteroid hurtling towards him.

"An asteroid field? Think we can lose them through this?" Luna quizzed switching back to her normal guns in case she needed to destroy some of the rocks.

"Yeah, might be hard though with this stupid delay!" Sora gritted his teeth as the ship was met with a barrage of huge rocks spinning in their current predicament. The Highwind swerved in multiple directions as Sora either pushed up or pulled down, to the left or right with the control column applying pressure. Luna shot through certain asteroid in their way turning them into smaller chunks of rock and allowing them to hit the side of the Gummi Ship without damage. The Heartless themselves served no match for the field as they found themselves quickly obliterated through the act of trying to follow the Highwind.

"Almost there!" Sora called out seeing the end of the field just beyond and with that the new world. It took a few seconds before the ship emerged out of the belt with minimal damage. Looking at the rear panel screen, Luna observed the lack of Heartless ships behind them.

"We did it!" Luna cheered spinning her chair over to hug Sora.

"Sora, you might want to look where you're going." Jiminy, who was on Sora's right, reminded him.

"Oops, sorry." Sora said quickly separating from Luna and returning to the maintaining control of the Highwind. The world which they were moving ever so close to was one Sora definitely recognised. It was one of the first worlds Sora had ever visited not to mention the fact that one its residents was a Princess of Heart like Kairi.

"You're gonna love this place." Sora told Luna as he braked and slowly hovered above the world.

"I think I could pretty much love any place right about now," Responded Luna smiling. Getting up, she grabbed the rucksack and took out the Hi-potions in it, "so how are we supposed to carry these?"

Sora thought about it for a second before clicking his fingers and disappearing from the room momentarily. He soon returned carrying three small blue plastic bags and handed two of them to Luna.

"Fill those two up with the Hi-Potions and keep them. I'll keep this one if you don't mind." Sora indicated by filling his own plastic with the contents of the Hi-Potion and afterwards placing it in his pants pocket. Luna shook her head and repeated Sora's steps except she placed them in her jacket. Jiminy hopped up onto Sora's shoulder and inserted himself into his hood. Nodding at each other, Sora pressed a button on the panel and the two were beamed down.

* * *

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Multiple clocks sprung to life around Sora and Luna as they fell slowly and gracefully down a hole. Furniture also became animate jumping around them as they floated downwards to their destination.

"Watch your landing." Sora called as Luna beamed in awe at the dancing tables and chairs.

"What?" But it was too late; Luna hit the ground groaning in annoyance while Sora safely managed to land on two feet.

"I said watch your-"

"A bit too late for a repeat isn't it?" Luna interrupted shaking her head and then getting off the floor. They were in a small circular room, the same as the one Sora had first landed in when he came here before. There was nothing particularly interesting about the room, except for the only hallway in the room leading to multiple doors. Sora moved to open them one by one but paused because of Luna's breathing on his neck.

"Oh, sorry." Luna apologised smiling as innocently as she could as he flashed a quick look towards her. Sora pulled open the door and crawled in. He had to admit his increased height hadn't made this any easier than it was the first time. Emerging out of the last door through much squeezing, Sora arrived at a much bigger room, a rather bizarre room which had a certain trick to it. Sora walked over to the small door on the other side of the room and knocked on it.

"Hey, wake up, nap time's over." Sora said while continuously knocking.

Luna looked at Sora for the first time as if he had grown two heads, "Uh, Sora? Whatever you're trying to do, isn't going to work. Whoever's in there clearly doesn't want to talk to us. I mean, I don't know how anyone could fit through there in the first place but..."

"I'm trying to get the door to wake up." Sora looked back at her before trying to twist the door knob instead.

Luna couldn't help but snort out loud as soon as he finished, "Sorry, what did you say? Doors don't sleep."

"They do when they need a nap."

"Really Sora? Maybe you need to take a bit more of a rest." Luna laughed.

Sora smiled slyly, "I wasn't the one talking."

"But then who- AAHHH!" Luna clapped her hands against her mouth to stop further screaming. Staring right back at her was another set of eyes not belonging to Sora but instead the door knob.

"Glad you finally noticed but can you keep it down? I'm trying to get some sleep." The doorknob yawned, its mouth being represented by a key hole.

"Oh not this time you aren't. We're going through this way this time. Not by the bed." Sora pointed to the bed positioned in the corner of the room.

"Wait, this is a bit too much now. A talking doorknob, really?" Luna twitched her eyes at the doorknob. Was this also another one of her dreams? If so, when would she wake up?

"Really, as in completely yes. How hard is it to believe that I'm a doorknob? Even the young lad next to you when he first came here." The doorknob tutted in disapproval.

"How hard it is... You're a doorknob!" Luna exclaimed ludicrously.

"Luna, doorknobs have feelings too. Don't insult him," Sora mockingly talked down to her causing her to laugh even harder, "sorry 'bout my friend here, she just doesn't appreciate the fine arts of doorknobs."

"Well teach her to, or else I won't let you in." The Doorknob huffed angrily.

"Oh come on, don't be like-"

The doorknob started making loud snores, murmuring "can't hear you" and "have her do it".

Sora turned to Luna who had died down in laughter, though her eyes still had tears in them.

"Right, maybe I should have told you. First thing, I've been to this place before. Second, you definitely can't consider it normal and third, I know it's weird but try to respect his feeling okay?" Sora whispered.

Luna nodded, "I understand. It's just, I've come across talking ducks and dogs and now inanimate objects? It's a lot to take in but I think I can manage from here on out," Luna moved over to the door and bent down, "Mr... uh, Doorknob? I'm so sorry about that, I was just so startled by you."

The doorknob's opened its eyes again and a bright smile spread across his features, "Why I accept your apology my dear."

"Great. Now make sure you stay awake while we go down to size." Sora told him before turning back to the table in the middle of the room. On it were two bottles with red and blue labels on them. Sora grabbed the one with the blue label and showed it to Luna.

"What's that?" Luna asked inspecting the bottle closely. Inside was what Luna could only describe as a black liquid.

"Try it yourself. Just only a little though." Sora handed her the bottle. Luna looked at him before taking a drink of the contents.

Handing it back to Sora she asked, "Okay? So what did that D-O-o-o?" Luna hiccupped and looked around her. Sora's face was no longer there but instead his shoes and legs. The door was also facing right back at her. The same height.

"You can't be serious. I'm so small." Luna rested her hand on the top of her head and looked around at how different things seemed when she was at this height.

It didn't take long before Sora joined her in the height department, "Impressive huh?"

"More than impressive. You know how you said this place wasn't normal? I doubt any other worlds will ever be. There's always something new to find which you can't find in other places right?" Luna stated her thoughts as the two walked back to the door.

"Right. It's the atmosphere, I think. Something different about each world." Sora agreed.

"Even though they were so connected long ago." Luna nodded remembering the Ansem Reports in the journal's recount. The two approached the door and Sora stood to the side and slowly reached around the doorknob with the back of his hand.

"So then Luna. I officially welcome you to Wonderland." Sora said in his most official voice and then opened up the door. Luna peered inside but then her smile was replaced instead with a frown.

"This is Wonderland? Doesn't exactly look wonderful." She said much to Sora's astonishment. Sora for a second wondered if Luna had maybe bumped her head a bit too hard when falling.

"What? Wonderland not wonderful? How's that-" Sora stopped talking when he looked through the door himself. He knew he hadn't gone through this way before, but he doubted it would have been much different from going by the bed. Wonderland looked absolutely depressing.

* * *

The dark and gloomy sky reached as far as the eye could see as Sora and Luna walked through Wonderland, or what had once been anyway. The supposed atmosphere that Sora had talked about had completely differed from when he last came here. The land seemed completely devoid of life and colour, the only remains being the golden leaves which had fallen off the bare trees. Looking up into the sky, Sora could see no sunlight shining down but instead the sun itself was obscured by thick dark clouds.

"Something is not right here." Sora said shaking his head continuously.

"Maybe we've entered the dark and gloomy season?" Luna suggested staring at the linear path in front of them.

"Huh, you think? I really do hope so." Sora replied but even as he truly wanted to believe, he just couldn't help but shake the feeling that something was very wrong with Wonderland. Sora's shaking of the head continued as they walked down the path, the consistency of the number of trees seeming less and less.

"So where are we going?" Luna asked trying to break the tense atmosphere after what seemed like an everlasting silence.

"I don't know. This place doesn't seem familiar to me." Sora stopped shaking his head; in fact he stopped what he was doing in general and sat on the ground.

"So, what you're saying is, we're lost?" Luna looked at him for clarification.

Sora sat still for a moment before looking back, "Let's go back. Try the bed this time. At least I knew where that led me." Luna nodded and helped Sora up. The two were beginning to walk when a group of Heartless popped up, that being two Large Bodies and three Creeper Plants.

"Luna, those plants shoot seeds. Make sure you block them." Sora advised as the two both summoned their Keyblades.

"Right." Luna acknowledged this by guarding just in time to stop a seed from the Plant closest to her from hitting her. Inching closer she swung her Keyblade upwards knocking it out from the ground and into the air. She finished it off with a fire spell. One of the Large Bodies jumped into the air aiming to possibly pound Sora into the ground. Sora spun his Keyblade like a fan holding it up in the air knocking the Body out of his attacks and sending him on his back. Sora finished up with a full swing leaning his Keyblade back and swinging in for a home run taking out the Heartless. Luna jumped for the ground to avoid another seed. She barely felt it zoom over her head but before she could find relief the other Large Body tried to pound his fist into Luna. Rolling out of the way in time to avoid the blow, she crawled quickly to where the second Plant was and pulled it out from its roots stunning it. Disposing it with her Dream Seeker, she smiled but was once again dragged away from her thoughts, literally this time.

"Sora!" Luna yelled as she was dragged rather slowly by a root which had entangled itself around her leg, probably from the last Creeper Plant. Sora noticing her plea for help, slide dashed into the last plant taking it out quickly and destroying the root around Luna's leg, "Thanks. I owe you one."

Concentrating back on the Large Body, Luna tried to use strike raid however it rebounded of its belly unharmed, "That was how you do it right?"

"Strike raid? Yeah, but it won't work on this thing. Have to attack from the back or with magic," Sora said. The Large Body swung itself towards them on its belly moving at quick speed. Sora jumped in and guarded the attack knocking the Heartless on its stomach. He then proceeded to throw in a series of quick furious jabs with the Kingdom Key defeating it. Luna sighed summoning away her Keyblade starting the walk back. She knew she had screwed up. While they had taken out all of the Heartless, Luna could admit that she had not tried her best and was rather irrational when it came to taking risks such as when she attempted to grab the roots of one of the Creeper Plants. While it had worked, she could have also been hurt in process doing it.

"Don't worry Luna. We'll get better with this teamwork thing." Sora caught up with her noticing her sullen disposition. Luna nodded but said nothing more knowing it was better not to let something like that drag her down. He was right of course; they had barely done any training after all and certainly not in co-ordination together yet.

* * *

Arriving at the door, Sora twisted the doorknob and tried to push forward.

"It's not working." Sora hissed in annoyance. The doorknob was probably fast asleep yet again.

"Hello Mr Doorknob? Could you let us through please?" Luna shouted through the keyhole however no voice echoed back, "Is it that easy to not get interrupted in your sleep?"

"What? Nah. Remember when I woke you up from that dream a few days ago?" Sora reminded her before clapping both his hands together quickly making Luna jumps away from the keyhole.

Sora said in a most positive voice, "Okay, since the door won't open. I can officially say we're lost."

"Is that really something to be happy about?" Luna gave him a lop-sided smile.

"Well unless you plan on waiting here for him to wake up, then someone has to remain positive about the situation." Sora explained his attentions certainly not seeming to care much about the door.

"Well then, allow me. I'll need a lot of it." Luna responded smiling sweetly.

"Y'know, a wise duck and dog once said 'no frowning, this ship runs on happy faces' and I agree with them." Sora recited.

"A journey full of smiles. I like the sound of that." Luna nodded agreeing with Donald and Goofy's teaching. The two turned around and walked a short way off from the door. Before they could get that far along the path, they came upon a mysterious noise. It was the sound of a waterfall except Sora and Luna had not heard this sound or even seen anything relatively like a water source nearby while heading through the path. Luna's shocked expression as she moved her head upwards alerted Sora to the problem at hand. Giant pellets of raindrops were shooting down from the sky in their thousands.

"Back to the door!" Sora yelled. The two ran back quickly and pounded mercilessly on the door begging for the doorknob to wake up and let them in. The raindrops started hitting down, drenching the two in water as they tugged and pushed at the door.

"Stand back. Let me try something." Luna moved away quickly as Sora pulled out the Kingdom Key, jumped back and aimed it at the keyhole. A bright light shot out of the Keyblade and a click was heard behind the lock. Throwing open the door, Sora rushed through with Luna right behind him. Slamming the door shut, the doorknob woke up rather abruptly and blasted them for their intervention of his sleep.

"Right, right, listen," Sora began interrupting the doorknob in the middle of his rant, "Was that side of Wonderland always like this?"

"What? You're telling me you don't know? This place has gone all topsy turvy. I'm not sure about the details; you'll have to talk to the rabbit. Even so, was it really necessary to pound my poor eardrums?" The doorknob looked on the verge of swooning.

"Yes, yes it was. Now, we just have to visit the rabbit like you said right? Oh, did Alice come through here?" Sora enquired.

"Ah yes, the girl just came through here recently, and by here I mean the door so if you're planning to look for her I would go back through here. I also wouldn't take the entrance by the bed if I were you." Said the doorknob, its eyelids seeming heavy as it struggled to keep them open.

"Why not?"

"The rabbit told me to tell Alice or anyone else going through to stay away. Simply put, this door doesn't lead to the castle. So if you're going this way, you might want to have a map of the area." It replied wearily.

"But where do we find a map?" Sora asked but it was already too late. The doorknob had once again fallen asleep.

"So the Keyblade can also open doors? Why didn't you do that to begin with?" Luna asked.

"I think you missed the "Key" part of the weapon. And I kind of just remembered it." Sora excused himself offering his apologies and smiling timidly.

"So I can do that as well?" Luna asked. She opened the door and stepped back inside to find no evidence that rain had even fallen. The ground was completely dry and the only other indication of more rain incoming would be the dark clouds in the sky.

"Of course you can. Huh? Wasn't it raining just a moment ago?" Sora appeared behind her looking just as mystified. Had it even rained to begin with?

"Well I don't know about you but I really don't want to stay here for the next downpour." Luna told him cumbersomely allowing Sora to get through and take the lead once more.

"So then all we need is a map of this place. We also have no idea where Alice is but I can take a few guesses once I find something which I've seen before." Sora said starting off into a jogging pace.

"So then Alice is one of the Princesses of Heart?" Luna asked as she jogged along with Sora down the path. Sora grunted 'yes' to confirm Luna's question as the two entered into what seemed like an all too familiar path to both of them.

"Wait a minute. Haven't we already come across this sign?" Luna asked slightly swiftly to halt along the damp tracks. The road here was split off into two directions with Sora and Luna having gone on the path to the right.

"Maybe it's a different sign?" Sora hoped though not really believing of that himself.

"With the same number of birds?" Luna pointed towards the top of the trees where three crows were perched on the branches, their beady eyes staring right back at the two. Sora mentally applauded her for paying such detail to that since apparently she had noticed three crows the last time they came through here as well.

"We could really use a map right now!" Sora shouted at the crows however they paid him no attention, just like he expected.

"A map you say? Oh, I think all you would need is a helping... hand." A chuckle could be heard somewhere nearby.

"Who said that? We kind of do need a hand getting out of here." Sora called out looking around for the source of the voice.

"Okay then, here you go." A cat's paw appeared in front of Luna making her shriek quickly before covering her mouth and backing away. The voice laughed and the rest of the paw's body materialized into existence revealing a madly grinning Cheshire Cat.

"That was not funny cat." Sora laughed nervously barely able to contain himself from jumping out of his shoes.

"Well what's funny to me and what's funny to you can be two completely different things, just like this road here. Or maybe possibly, the same?" The Cheshire cat checked his claws as Sora rolled his eyes.

"So who are you exactly and where are we?" Luna asked still completely creeped out by the strange magic trick the cat had just performed.

"I am the Cheshire Cat, I know much but do not always tell. As for where you are, I can't exactly answer. We could be here, or there, or even there," The feline twisted his arms in all different directions until he was bouncing around on one leg and twisting his tongue in front of Sora and Luna, "couldn't tell you even if I tried. Too much darkness around every corner."

"Darkness? Did something happen to Wonderland? Where's Alice?" Sora asked however he paused when the cat disappeared from where he was and reappeared on Sora's head.

"Ah this place might be useful to take a nap." The cat wiggled its tail backward and forward in Sora's face.

"Hey that's my hair. Get off it." Sora complained pulling the cat off his head only for it to disappear once again in his hands.

"Wonderland just isn't the same anymore. Up is down, left is right. As for Alice, I do recall meeting a girl by a similar name somewhere around here. Can't exactly say for sure if it's the same Alice you're talking about." The Cheshire Cat answered reappearing and curling around Luna's leg.

"So do you know where a map is then?" Luna asked looking at Sora in a cry for help not really sure she wanted to be anywhere near this cat. The vibe emanating off it was terrifying to say the least.

"Map? Why would you need a map? Chances are if you're planning to survive, you'll only need to think crazy. Like me." The cat laughed probably even more insanely than last time (if that were possible) disappearing from Luna's leg. The last remaining remnants of the cat being there was its two yellow eyes, which moved around in different directions until it eventually dissolved away, the echoing laugh trailing along with them.

"I hope we never come across that thing again." Luna thought aloud however Sora's mind was on something different.

"What did he mean by not the same Alice. Who else could it be?" Sora observed the crows for a second, once again hoping for some sort of indication of a direction for them and once again received nothing but a blank stare.

"I honestly wouldn't think about it much. He looked pretty insane to me." Luna fathomed looking at the sign once more. There were two places they could possibly go to however the writing on either of the two posts was not clear at all but instead roughly smudged.

"Well we're not going to find out anything by just sitting here and talking. So let's pick the path to the left this time and see what we can make from it." Sora said. Together the two picked their pace up and hurried through the path leading to what they hoped to be an exit to this barren wasteland.


	15. Darkness Around Every Corner Pt2

**Another day, another Dual Destinies chapter. Since I was lazy and could not come up with a name for this chapter I just called it part 2 of the last one. Planning on a few more chapters for Wonderland before moving onto the next world so until the next chapter please R&R, thanks :)**

* * *

Chapter 15

Darkness Around Every Corner Pt. 2

Seconds turned into minutes as Sora and Luna, having struggled to make it through the area finally emerged out into a clearing with three separate parts, one being that of which they had just came out from. After realising what the Cheshire Cat's hint was in that everything was the wrong way around in Wonderland, Luna had proceeded to notice any patterns in the landscape. They had chosen the left path starting off and had successfully ended up in a different area. This was evidenced by their only being two crows as opposed to three, of course it had been possible that the other crow had just flown away but this was soon challenged when after they turned left down another split path the third bird had reappeared. Eventually, Luna took a wild guess that as the crows often looked at different directions on the paths; she and Sora would have to go in the opposite direction of where they were pointing at. Once again, Sora was amazed by Luna's extrapolating skills and soon enough, after a couple of more split roads, she was soon proved right.

"We actually made it out?" Luna gave a sigh of relief glad to see some variety in the environment. The clearing itself was not nearly as depressing as the road the two had just walked. It was still was rather overcast but definitely not as melancholy.

"Want to take a break?" Sora asked all the more happy to sit down himself.

"Sure, I'd be more than glad," Luna said and the two sat down on the brilliant green grass. A thirty second interval of silence passed between the two before Luna spoke up again, "Can you tell me a story?"

Sora appeared baffled by the question, "Story? Like what?"

"Any kind of story. You must have a lot since you have been to a lot of worlds. Still, it has only been a few days and I barely know anything about your journeys apart from the basic notes in the journal." Luna said.

"Okay, why not? We have time to spare. Let's see now... how 'bout we start from the beginning?" Sora said in a mystifying voice.

Luna chortled at this, "The beginning? The way you say it sounds like you mean from the moment you were born. Sora, I don't think we need to go that far. Unless you have some baby pictures of you that I can take a look at."

"Not that far. I mean like almost two years ago when I first got the Keyblade," Sora continued stifling his own laugh, "So me, Riku and Kairi wanted to get away from our home world, the Destiny Islands. It was just all the same and we wanted to see the outside world. It was Riku who originally brought it up and I pretty much agreed with him."

"What about your parents? Weren't they concerned?" Luna asked.

"They didn't really get a chance to. We never told them and before they realised it, the island was destroyed. You could say we weren't really thinking about it back then." Sora answered trying to remember the last thing his mother had said to him before he had left the islands, something to do with dinner.

"Then, what happens to a world after it's destroyed?" Luna queried.

Jiminy Cricket climbed out of Sora's hood and pulled open one of the journals from his coat pocket. Sora and Luna both waited patiently as Jiminy scanned through the pages before finally pausing at one in particular.

"According to my journal and the Ansem reports, the world's heart gets frozen in time until it's restored. The world itself can be sent to multiple places, like Traverse Town, the Realm of Darkness and even that one Heartless world which disappeared after Sora defeated Ansem." Jiminy reported before putting the journal back in its rightful place.

"Meaning..." Sora looked at Jiminy for more of a confirmation to what happened to worlds.

Luna frowned herself perplexed by what had just been said, "So Sora's world will go back to the way it was, with no one remembering it being destroyed then? And those who are lucky end up in Traverse Town? Am I getting this right so far?"

"I would say that's a pretty good summary. Wait, Luna didn't you come from Traverse-" Jiminy's speech came to a halt as a look of realization dawned upon Luna's face.

"So then, suppose my world was lost to darkness. I could get it back?" While she did not want to be pessimistic at this point of time, the most plausible explanation to Luna was starting to seem like her world had been destroyed.

"It's still too early to be thinking like that, chin up Luna. There are other ways to get to Traverse Town." Sora told her.

"It's okay Sora. I'm not giving up hope until I see it myself, or don't see it. Either way, continue with your story, um, what happened next?" Luna changed topic trying to push the thought away from her mind.

"AAAAAH!"

Sora and Luna turned their heads as an ear-piercing scream could be heard coming their way. It was only a matter of seconds before a girl popped out of the brushes. Sora immediately recognised her as Alice by her blue and white dress however it had seemed as if Alice had changed otherwise. Following behind her was...

"Pete!" Sora snarled summoning his Keyblade and getting into his battle position as Alice took for cover behind Sora and Luna.

"Oh, so the Keyblade dunce is here too eh?" Pete smashed his fists together and smiled wickedly.

"I'm sorry, but who are you two?" Alice questioned her saviours.

"What? Alice you don't know me? It's Sora." Sora looked between Luna and Alice for a moment not sure what was happening. Alice was certainly taller for a start and her facial structure had changed slight but apart from that, she was the same old Alice, at least that he knew off.

"Everyone seems to know who I am around here, but I don't think I've met any of you. I just hope I wake up soon." Alice winced clutching her shoulder in pain. It looked as if bristles which Sora and Luna had encountered on their way to the clearing from the other road had injured her while she was running from Pete.

"Wake up? What are you- Actually, Luna, take Alice and go, I'll deal with Pete." Sora nodded to Luna before focusing on Pete. While Luna wanted to object and stay to help out, she knew Alice's injury was more important. Taking Alice's hand, she started running off with the other girl down the final pathway which had not yet been taken by anyone.

* * *

Sora watched the two girls escape out of the corner of his eye before looking back at Pete.

"So Pete, how's Maleficent hanging these days? Don't tell me she still hasn't recovered after that whooping we gave her." Sora decided to strike friendly if not sarcastic conversation with the cat.

"Heh, I'll have you know Maleficent is more powerful than ever and this time, you twerps won't be gettin' off easily." Pete boasted.

Sora's tone switched to a pensive state, "Like what you did with the King?"

"Yup, we've had it all figured out. Take one person out of the equation and everyone else runs around like headless chickens. But I can't exactly tell you the plan just yet, though I'll let you know that you'll be up for front row tickets when the time comes." Answered Pete.

"Tell me where you're hiding him." Sora said through gritted teeth however Pete could only laugh once again.

Pete tutted, "Ah, because me being the bad guy will gladly hand the bargaining chip over to the good guys free of charge right?"

Sora's eyes widened in realization, "Bargain? What for?"

Pete covered his mouth mentally smacking himself for revealing that piece of information, "Oops. Now see here, you just forget that."

"I'm not forgetting it now you said it." Sora looked at Pete sceptically. So they were using Mickey as a bargaining chip. Pete had royally slipped up.

"Ah just scram. I have a princess to catch." Pete turned and was about to run after Luna and Alice when Sora quickly moved around and brought Pete to a stop. Brandishing the Kingdom Key, Sora edged closer to Pete.

"I don't think so. Instead, I think you're going to tell me why you need Alice and the King." Sora threatened causing Pete to gulp and step back a bit.

"Fine then ya nitwit. You want to play? Then let's play." Pete said creating a bomb in his hands and rolling it towards Sora. Sora guarded quickly however the bomb went off as soon as it came into contact with the Keyblade triggering smoke. Sora coughed as grey smoke surrounded him. He could hear Pete's laugh off in the distance as the big cat ran in the direction Luna and Alice had gone. Finding his bearings, Sora waved to try and disperse the smoke as he followed the faint image of Pete. Emerging out of the smoke finally, Sora chased after Pete throwing a combination of fire and blizzard magic his way. Pete turned around and rolled another bomb down Sora's way. Sora air slided over the bomb, landed on his feet, and continued on throwing more magic. Eventually one of the blizzard spells hit the ground creating an icy path leading to Pete eventually tripping.

Pete growled as he got up and tried to punch Sora square in the face. Sora simply held the Kingdom Key up to guard as Pete tried to pound him before Sora used stun impact. This made Pete immobilised allowing Sora to knock Pete around with the Kingdom Key. Pete eventually hit the floor again with Sora pointing with the Keyblade right at him.

"So before I embarrass you even more, why don't you save yourself the pain and just talk?" Sora offered to Pete.

"As if." Pete said quickly grabbing for Sora's legs and tripping Sora up making the spiky brunette hit the ground hard. Sora's last few moments before facing unconsciousness was a brutal punch to his left temple and a blurry Pete continuing down the path.

* * *

Luna quickly pulled Alice in a different direction, diverging off into the woods and stationing her and herself in the bushes to hide.

"Okay, that's enough for now. We'll wait until Sora gets here." Luna whispered peering out of the bushes and down the road.

"Thank you for saving me. But who exactly are you two? More residents of this place?" Alice asked slowly.

"You don't know who Sora is? A Keyblade wielder?" Luna tried to jog Alice's memory however the blonde haired girl shook her head and looked as if Luna had just spouted some incomprehensible nonsense.

"I'm not even sure where I am right now. Well I know I'm in Wonderland but... this has to be a dream right? Please pinch me." Alice hissed in pain once again clutching her arm.

"Oh right! Your arm. Just hold on for a second." Luna pulled one of the plastic bags filled with potion from her pocked and opened it. She hesitated for a moment, wondering whether it was meant to be consumed or spread across the injured area. Luna eventually decided on rubbing the potion on the cut so as not to waste more of the potion and was glad she did make that choice when the cut appeared to be much better after the constant clockwise motion of rubbing.

"How does that feel?" Luna asked proud of her handiwork.

"Oh, it does feel much better now. Thank you uhm..." Alice's smile widened welcoming Luna and making her feel comfortable.

"Luna. It's nice to meet you Alice." Luna said softly shaking Alice's hand.

"Honestly though, this has to be a dream. I've never seen you or Sora before but you know me. Also this world is just- not real. It can't be." Alice remarked satisfied with her own answer.

"I kind of doubt that. Whatever this place is, it's not a dream. Sora and I only just arrived here ourselves." Luna said.

"Then where do you come from?" Alice asked curiously.

"The out-" Luna stopped herself quickly remembering Max and Donald's conversation about a "World Order" which needed to be protected. The rule had been that you can't inform others of worlds outside of their own or even meddle with the affairs of the worlds. Luna wasn't really even sure Alice knew about the other worlds or at least this Alice if they were the same one. All she had to go on was that Alice was a Princess of Heart. Either way, the thought that dreaded Luna the most was also the thing that she herself suffered from. Had Alice lost her memory?

"Alice, have you had other dreams? About Wonderland I mean?" Luna pursued.

"Well, it is possible. If I've had, it's probably been a really long time since I've had the last one as I really can't remember any dreams about this Wonderland. Though I can't say it's exactly wonderful so far." Alice mused.

"Yeah, it doesn't. Alice, this might just be a guess but maybe you've lost your memory, or at least something happened to make you forget it." Luna suggested peeking through the bushes again. Where was Sora?

"Oh, I'd certainly hope not. That would be awful. Still, I do hope this is a dream. This is all too abnormal for me. I was just having tea in the garden like normal. An argument broke out and then I came across a white rabbit checking his pocket watch and then fell down the rabbit hole arriving, well, here. I'm afraid I've gone mad." Alice reflected biting her lip softly in contemplation.

"Mad? Alice, I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are." Luna reassured her giving Alice a warm smile.

Alice returned it, "Thanks Luna. It's nice to make friends, isn't it?"

"And you can make a lot more." A purring voice said in advance.

Out appeared the Cheshire Cat startling the pair, "So Alice. You've returned to Wonderland once more. How does it feel?"

"Well I-"

Cheshire however cut in immediately, "Oh sorry, scratch that. You probably don't feel anything since you aren't the same Alice, or at least that's what you say."

"But I'm not Cheshire. I mean, I suppose I could be but even if it were to be real I doubt I've come here often if I can barely remember." Alice defended receiving a gesture from Luna to tell her to quiet down.

"Ah, so it went from "No this place doesn't exist" to "It's possible that it could"? Funny how our minds work when manipulated isn't it? It's kind of like memories; in a way- it's like a mirror. With enough force you can shatter it to pieces. Then only fragments remain scattered across the floor which even then, can still be put back together and fixed in time. You should of course be careful when picking up the pieces though so as not to cut yourself." The Cheshire Cat finished his speech and Luna could have sworn, for a second, that the cat had just winked in her direction.

"Wait- so you mean that my- I mean Alice's memories are just strewn over the place and all we need to do is pick them up and rearrange them?" Luna tried to make sense of the cat's words, however the cat neither confirmed nor denied. She took it as a yes.

"But where would I start?" Alice asked.

"Well, the caterpillar would be a good place to start. I hear he's _barking_ mad about the forest, hehe, or maybe even the Mad Hatter and March Hare. I assume it won't be so hard to find them again if you are indeed the real Alice. Oh, and don't forget the thing you were chasing after in the first place. Oh, so much to do, so little time." The Cat disappeared leaving the two alone again. Luna waved her hands through the air so as to make sure the cat might still not be around them.

Alice turned back looking towards Luna attentively, "What did he mean by so little time? I know the thing I was chasing was the white rabbit but..."

That topic was far from what was on Luna's mind right now, "I need to go back for Sora. I'm starting to get worried. It shouldn't take him this long to catch up."

"Okay, I'm coming too." Alice said however before she could move Luna outstretched her arm blocking her.

"Sorry Alice, but whoever that Pete guy was, he is after you. If you're endangered because of me, I don't know what I would do. Plus you don't have a weapon." Luna reasoned.

"Oh don't worry about that. I'll give him a proper telling off." Alice tried to pull off her meanest looks and moving her index finger up and down as if a teacher.

Luna snickered, "Yeah, I'd love to see that. But for now, just stay here and keep hiding until I get back. You'll know if I've returned if I whistle. Sound good?"

"I'll still be quite lonely." Alice said.

"Oh don't worry. I'm sure the plants will keep you company. See you in a moment." Luna jested.

"See you, uh, thanks again Luna." Alice told her new friend benevolently. Luna smiled at her kindness before peering through the bushes once again to make sure no one was in the vicinity before leaping back onto the main road.

* * *

Setting down the path with Keyblade in hand, Luna wondered how exactly she was going to beat a big cat who was probably more experienced in fighting than her. Not to mention that if Sora had lost to this guy, what was the chances of her winning?

_Just like the Heartless Luna, except more humanoid. _Luna finally settled on. It was only a minute or so before she encountered Pete lumbering up the road. Settling on a sneak attack, Luna jumped through the bushes quickly to avoid being detected and poised ready to knock him out. She would only have to hit him on the back of his head, albeit rather heavily. Judging from his height and her own, it would be a pretty hard thing to do but she could apply enough force and jump high enough she could possibly pull it off.

Gripping the Keyblade tightly in both hands, she waited until Pete walked past her before springing into action. She knew Pete would easily pick up on the rustling of the bushes but if she was quick enough, she wouldn't have to worry much. Moving out of the bushes, she bent and jumped as far as her legs could reach her. Pete turned but he was too late to react as a heavy blow from Dream Seeker was delivered to his noggin, making him descend like a stiff wooden board successfully. Luna pumped her fists into the air and spun her Keyblade around grinning at her success before deciding to hide the body in the bushes before anyone came across it. If anyone came across it. Moving Pete took a lot more effort than planning out how to knock him out, this of course being due to his weight.

"Wish I knew levitating magic." Luna struggled as she had only pulled half the body into the bushes in around a minute. Finishing up her work a minute or so later, she stopped to catch her breath for awhile.

"Pete, when I see you next time, you better be easier to carry." She squinted her eyes at the bush with mocking despise before continuing on her journey to Sora. The fact that Pete seemed unscathed and fine proved to Luna that Sora was in danger. She called Sora's name out loud as she rushed for the clearing. She soon realised her crying out was truly pointless as she froze in her spot just outside the tree-less area. Sora was gone.

"Don't do this to me Sora. I need you," Luna muttered desperately as she walked in quick pace to the middle of the field. Luna called out Sora's name several more times before stopping. It was too late to question Pete and even if she did feel like waking him up at the moment she wasn't exactly sure she was prepared for what would happen if Pete did not comply. She also knew Sora would want her to take care of Alice, instead of mourning over him though really she didn't know why she couldn't do both, "I will find you Sora. You can't be too far from here."

If Luna knew or just had a hint as to his location, she wouldn't be worrying as much as she was now, that was for sure. It seemed as if the Cheshire Cat was right, there was very little time left.

* * *

Sora slowly opened his eyes as he felt his feet being dragged across the dry ground. It took a while before his eyes could focus properly and when they did they fell upon the two card soldiers grabbing his arms as they were surrounded in a circle by a group of at least six other cards. In total, there were eight seeming to share an equal amount of spades and hearts.

"Oh, it's you guys. How's the queen these days?" Sora said not really caring about what he was saying to the cards. Instead he was already hatching a plan of escape.

"Well, you can ask her that yourself when see her majesty." The spade next to him hoisted Sora up so that his feet weren't dragging as much as it had been; he was soon aided by the heart on the other side of Sora.

"Wasn't this place a bit livelier or something? Your queen must be an absolute bore. Does her complexion usually ruin much else?" Sora laughed insanely.

This brought the attention of several of the cards who stopped in their tracks, the others which did not bumped in the former.

"You will not insult her majesty the queen of hearts. Watch your tongue boy." Another spade in the front turned behind him to shout, his face flushed with the colour pink.

"Oh why can't we all just get along, humans and cards alike, huh? Now are you really happy with her ruling over things?" Sora was easily able to slide out of the two cards' grasp due to their embarrassment loosening their grip on him.

"Of course we. Aren't we?" The spade turned to his fellow soldiers giving questioning looks to the other cards.

"Yes sir." The other cards raised their hands and saluted.

_Perfect._

Sora summoned his Keyblade and performed circle raid knocking all the cards down flat. He ran opposite to where the cards had been taking him, hoping that he was going the right way. At this point, Luna was no doubt worried about him and had probably gone to find him. He needed to get back to her and protect Alice. The thought that Pete had probably already found and kidnapped them was constantly trying to penetrate his mind however Sora pushed it back out. He trusted Luna and expected her to do the right thing. Already he could hear the cards scrambling back up and chasing after him. He visualised spears and axes at the ready from a deck of red and black and couldn't help but feel mesmerised by the image instead of terrorised.

"Hold on for me Luna." Sora shouted as he slid down the levee in front of him and leapt across the water to the other side. A bunch of Creeper Plant Heartless were waiting here however Sora just slashed through one of them not really concerned with dealing with them at the moment. Turning back, it had seemed that the steep slope of the levee had slowed down the cards progress as they struggled to get down it.

"Who knew cards didn't like to play in the dirt." Sora said gleefully before continuing on his journey.

* * *

Luna continued to whistle loudly walking back down the road as she tried to recall where she had left Alice. It did not take long before she encountered the girl again, with her hand sticking out of the bushes to beckon Luna to her location. Beyond the bushes, Luna set her eyes on a rather humorous sight. Alice and two of the flowers were chatting animatedly to each other.

"Uh, not to disturb on the conversation but when I said the plants would keep you company, this isn't exactly what I meant." Luna said not even sure if she had the energy to be surprised anymore.

"Oh, we were just having a debate. This flower says it knows me but I've never seen any talking flowers in my life." Alice fussed straightening her blue and white dress as she stood up.

"And I'm telling you dearie that you have. She says her name is Alice. Honestly, how many of them can there be out there that have the same dress?" The beautiful red petalled flower turned to Luna as it asked.

"Which have the name Alice? I'm sure there are quite a bit. But that's not the point; the point is Sora is missing." Luna diverted her attention from the flower back to Alice.

"Missing? Was it the cards?" Alice asked.

"Cards?" Luna questioned not sure if this was Alice's own way of getting her to play cards or possibly even something else that she was sure she'd end up being surprised about when Alice told her.

"Card Soldiers. They're quite a handful. Oh, where's Pete?" Alice asked.

"I managed to knock him out for now. Anyway, we need to find Sora. But at the same time, it would be putting you in danger..." Luna trailed off lost at what to do. Could she leave Alice here for a while knowing she was safe while she went off to find Sora by herself? Even then, Sora had told her to take care of Alice but taking care would imply not putting her in danger in the first place. It was a huge gamble either way and who knew when Pete would wake up again and resume looking? And what about the Heartless? Every time she discovered a new point in her mind which supported one of the arguments another one came up which counterbalanced it. It came to the point where Luna clenched her fists tightly and literally felt like smacking Sora when she next saw him for leaving her on her own, but at the same time, she knew it wasn't his fault.

"Luna, about my memories, I-"

"ALICE! NOW'S NOT TIME!" Luna cried at the girl frightening both her and the two plants. Realising what she had just done she hung her head in shame, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. I just don't know what to do. I don't know what to-"

Luna was cut off from her words as Alice's arms entangled around her. She felt like crying into Alice's shoulder, yet at the same, did not want to display any weaknesses to her. The only thing ruining the moment was the two flowers which 'awed' as Alice hugged her and Luna seriously had to think about cutting off their stems to silence them.

"It's okay Luna. You care about Sora a lot, I can see that. I can wait for my memories but for now, you have to go and rescue him. I'm coming too." Alice said and all of sudden it had felt as if roles had switched between the two.

"But you can't. That would be putting you in danger, and I can't afford to take that risk." Luna reasoned as Alice let go of her making her once again feel like a helpless child.

"It's a risk I'll gladly take. He believed in you and apparently he knows me. I can't just give up on him, same as you. I'm going with you and that's final." Alice told Luna. Her speech felt rather nostalgic to Luna, like she had heard it uttered before.

Regardless, Luna nodded, "I feel so useless. Like whenever I'm with Sora and his friends, it's like I stand out. So now's the time to make things right. I'm going to prove that I deserve to be journeying with him and the others. Let's go then and who knows? Maybe we'll come across some of your memories on the way there."

"So you've lost your memories? Then it possible you're our Alice." The yellow petalled flower piped in with the red one mumbling in agreement.

"Don't count on it." Alice simpered before pushing through the bushes with Luna. And thus the two set out on their journey to encounter Sora and hopefully Alice's memories in the process.

* * *

**So a preview for the next chapter: we meet more wacky Wonderland characters and Sora and Luna work on trying to restore Alice's memory. We also some info on how long exactly it's been since Alice has last been to Wonderland. Oh, and Pete wakes up but can he make up for his past mistakes? Probably not but it's fun to see him try again.**


	16. Luna's Wonderful World

**Finally finished this chapter and this time we come across another Wonderland resident. Also more childish Sora antics and Pete trying to actually think he can beat Sora this. Maybe he will. . . **

**Anyway, have fun and enjoy :)  
**

* * *

Chapter 16

Luna's Wonderful World

Luna's new plan wasn't exactly new, nor could one define it as a plan. She decided that she would take things in stride and work from what she already had, not exactly the newest plan and it was certainly not the safest but if a plan did come to her, now certainly wasn't the time. So when deciding between getting Alice's memories back and trying to find Sora, she decided to try and think like him. And while she did not know Sora that much with it only having been a week since they met, she knew what Sora would say in these circumstances.

"We deal with things as they come." She could hear Sora saying in her mind and so she took the initiative in leading Alice back down the road while at the same time keeping her eye out for anything which might aid them.

"Luna, check this out." Alice called from behind. Luna turned to see Alice holding what appeared to be two pieces of food in her hand.

"What's that?" Luna asked taking one of the pieces out of Alice's hands and staring at it.

"I got it from a mushroom over there," Alice pointed to a half applied mushroom next to a group of them located in the grass off the road, "think it's safe to eat?"

"I wouldn't be eating that if I were- Alice?" Luna asked as the other girl shrank to a smaller size than that which Luna thought was possible. If she was already the size of a small door then Alice must at least be have been the size of a mouse now.

"Oh my, well at least we know what this does now." Alice hiccupped as looked up to the taller stature of Luna.

"That could have been poisonous you know? Still, you seem alright. Maybe there's something here to make you bigger." Luna looked around before walking over to the mushrooms. Looking at her piece, she nibbled on it slightly. Instead of shrinking like Alice however, this had the adverse effect. Her body stretched and lengthened as she grew double the size of what she had previously been.

"Uh, you got this from the same mushroom right Alice?" Luna's voice quivered as a response due to her new height.

"Yes. Hmm, maybe one half makes you small and the other..." Alice jumped onto a mushroom and picked at it until she got one part of it free. Hoping it was the right one; she took a bite and immediately grew back to the height she had previously been, or maybe a little bit more, Luna wasn't sure from where she was standing.

Alice handed Luna the piece which would bring her back to size. Taking a nibble, a fresh smile appeared on Luna's face as she was downsized, a bit shorter than Alice but that was fine, in fact it honestly did not feel all that different to Luna seeing her and Alice had been around the same height anyway when they had met.

"Thanks Alice. Maybe we should carry some of these, just in case." Luna decided and together the two picked the mushrooms and split them in half. There was no way to know which one had what effect unless Luna and Alice were to test all of them and even then they were hesitant to do so as it simply was not time-effective. The two soon felt fully satisfied after stuffing their pockets full off mushroom pieces.

"Okay, let's continue on." Alice quickly reminded Luna of what their objective was and she nodded.

* * *

Along the way, Luna thought to ask Alice more about her past. This train of thought however was ruined as Heartless started to appear blocking their path. Summoning Dream Seeker, Luna took this chance to practice her fire magic. Her reach with the spell had definitely increased she found and Luna wasn't sure whether it was down to her burning passion to prove herself or an increase in skill or possibly even both. Either way, she would gladly take this as a positive increase in progress for her learning. She also found that she could turn the fire magic into a homing attack so she didn't have to aim as accurately as she had been doing so in the past saving a lot of time when it came to defeating Heartless.

Alice swerved out of the way to avoid a bullet seed from a Creeper Plant in front of her. Her ability to move quickly was based rather on instinct than skill and even then, she found she had to time her dodge perfectly. Luna on the other hand, guarded against the bullets. She would have tried to knock them back if it wasn't for the fact she knew she was just not fast enough to do so. The effect of fire on the Creeper Plants were rather humorous to say the least when compared to other Heartless, whether one could classify it as being in a sadistic sense or not was debatable but the lasting flames of the magic burning the flower fiend was definitely quite the sight. If she were to leave them in that condition, they would eventually just shrivel and die from what Luna could only imagine as an intense heat.

Eventually though, Luna found herself unable to cast anymore magic for the last plant in the area. Raising her eyebrows, Luna did not have time to contemplate what had just happened before she was slammed from her sides by a Large Body. Her Dream Seeker was launched several feet away from her as she fell to the ground and groaned at the slight pain in her arm. With her other arm she tried to writhe over to it as the Large Body approached. Luna knew it was too late and closed her eyes. It had been a few seconds and somehow she was still alive. Why was she still alive? Opening her eyes and her mouth along with it, she came to see why. Alice had managed to take out the big Heartless and was currently holding Luna's Dream Seeker in her hand.

"Alice? Thank you so much!" Luna could not find enough words to express her gratitude. They were both breathing rather heavily but for contrasting reasons, one who could not believe what she had just done and the other thinking that she had been almost done for.

"I just sort of reacted by instinct. I can't even tell you what I was thinking there," Alice told her helping the brunette up. Handing Luna back her Keyblade, Alice looked around, "let's continue to look for Sora."

"Wait a minute. Who's looking after whom here again?" Luna smiled impishly.

Alice turned back and gave an all knowing smile and tapped her nose before saying, "Trust me, it's you. This confidence probably came from you as well."

"And trust me; I am feeling anything but confident right now." Luna responded. A bullet from the last Creeper Plant alerted Luna and Alice to its presence. The two nodded at each other in understand before Alice assumed position behind Luna. The moved closer, with Luna deflecting each seed that the plant shot at them. Trying to conjure a flame in her mind and channel it to the Keyblade once again proved non-effective and she had to end the fight by slashing it clean from its roots.

"Hey Alice, I didn't know others could use the Keyblade." Luna looked at her Dream Seeker and let Alice handle it once more. This time it was only a few seconds before the Keyblade disappeared from Alice and reappeared in Luna's hands.

"Maybe it sensed that its wielder was in danger and let me burrow it for a while." Alice suggested.

"Uh Alice, I don't think it can sense anything. It's just an object." Luna told her laughing inwardly at the idea of a Keyblade that could talk. Still, would she really be surprised if it came to be true?

If Alice had something else to say, she only frowned and held her breath in and said nothing else trotting down the path startling Luna for a second.

"Woah, wait up Alice!" Luna stammered surprised at the girl's increase in pace. Had she said something wrong? The two eventually came back out into the clearing where more Heartless awaited them. Luna took them out quickly having no trouble with the small shadows before turning back to Alice.

"You think we should use one of these to check the area?" Luna pulled out one of the mushrooms in her pocket. Alice nodded picking up onto her idea immediately. Luna would use one of the mushrooms to increase her height and scout the area from above for Sora before using the over mushroom to make herself small again. The only problem from this plan being the two had no idea which parts of the mushrooms did what.

"Trial and error I suppose." Alice grimaced not really keen on the idea of luck being the defining factor. Still, it wasn't as if they had much of a choice in the matter for Sora could have been anywhere.

Luna nibbled quickly on the mushroom. Soon enough she felt the effects as she decreased in size. Shaking her head at the results, she quickly picked randomly from the other pocket and took a nibble from this one. Once again, she shrank in size to what could be considered Jiminy Cricket's size.

"I was short enough before. I don't need this." Luna said loud enough for Alice to giggle. Picking another piece from the same pocket and hoping this next bite wasn't her last, Luna bit into the mushroom and returned back to her normal height, that being quite a bit taller than Alice but not as tall as the surrounding trees. Smiling downwards at Alice, Luna took another bite and eventually she saw the world shrink beneath her. Alice quickly stepped away to avoid getting hit by Luna's increasing shoe size. Luna felt completely on top of the world right now, which in a way, she was. The land itself definitely seemed a lot more beautiful and vibrant from where she was standing, which was weird because the entire area was covered in dense mist and yet it seemed to not interweave itself into the scenery. It was almost like a separate entity living on a completely different field. Looking down slightly, she peeked around for any sign of Sora. The whole area was covered in a forest which made it impossible to see much down below and anything else past that was engulfed by a sphere of fog.

Downsizing back to Alice's height with the previous mushroom she had eaten, Luna shook her head as the blonde waited determinedly for her analysis. Alice's face softened at the news and she squeezed Luna's hand reassuringly.

"This place, is it always like this, with fog?" Luna asked.

"How am I supposed to know? This is my first time coming here." Alice answered biting her lip, from what Luna could tell she seemed rather unsure of what she just said.

"Even so, suppose this is your dream. Shouldn't you be able to- I don't know... why would you dream about fog in the first place?" Luna wondered.

"It not easy to control your dreams, I'm sure you've experienced it before. Still, I kind of don't want this to be a dream now. I would hope you weren't at least." Alice squeezed Luna's hand again before letting go and proceeding forward to the pathway she had come out of when they had first met.

"Thanks Alice." Luna said loudly running to catch up with her. She slowed down once she reached her and converted to a normal walking pace. The two were about to go through the first few trees leading down the final road before the heard another voice. Turning around, they spotted a white rabbit heading down their direction, a pocket watch in his hand.

"I'm late, I'm late I'm late I'm late," The rabbit repeated scurrying over closer and closer to Luna and Alice, "I'm here, I should be there. Oh the queen will have my fur and whiskers, if I'm not careful I'll be reduced to cinders. I'm late, I'm late I'm late I'm late."

"Oh Mr. Rabbit, would you please stop for a moment?" Alice held her hand out making the rabbit come to a halting screech.

"Uh, have you gotten enough sleep?" Luna bent down and observed the rabbit's red and puffy eyes.

"Not exactly, the queen honestly has me up all day and night. Can't get a snap of sleep." The rabbit panted as it spoke.

"Mr. Rabbit, I was wondering if you had come across a boy with spiky brown hair around here." The white rabbit took one look at Alice before his eyes widened in horror. His teeth chattered and he shook his head violently.

"No no no. You- You're Alice. No, you must go. If the queen finds you here, it will be off with your head," The bell on his pocket watch rang after he said this making him jump, "and I need to go."

"Wait," Alice started once again stopping the rabbit in his tracks, "take us with you. To see the queen. Maybe she can provide an answer as to where Sora is."

Luna, however, wasn't so sure that would be the case. From the way the rabbit was acting, it seemed like this queen was a rather feared woman and if Sora had come across her or one of her lackeys, he was sure to be in big trouble, the "off with your head" so-called euphemism didn't really seem to help matters either.

The rabbit also seemed to be contemplating it before sighing, "Okay, just make sure you act like you don't know this place. Hopefully she won't remember you." The rabbit turned around and started hopping off.

"How can she remember me if I've never been here before?" Alice asked before noticing something falling out of the white rabbit's pocket. Alice noted Luna about this and picked up what appeared to be a shard of glass from a mirror. Moving it closer to her eye, Alice observed her eye's reflection before gasping and dropping the mirror back on the ground.

"Alice, are you okay?" Luna rushed to her friend's side immediately holding her steady as memories Alice had never experienced before rushed through her head. A tea party with the Mad Hatter and March Hare, sitting by a tree with her sister and watching a white rabbit head off towards the stream downhill, the confusing as ever Cheshire cat and being lost in the woods, all being experienced through the body of a younger ten year old Alice.

The next time Alice opened her eyes, she looked at Luna as if she had just discovered an old friend, "I just saw me. Here for my first time. I was ten apparently and I- No, it couldn't have been me."

"Whoa whoa whoa. Don't be so quick to give up on it. That was probably real. How old are you now by the way?" Luna asked interested in where this conversation was going. She didn't want to keep the rabbit waiting but it was also essential that Alice was showing progress in attaining anything to do with Wonderland.

"I'm fifteen." Alice answered waving at the rabbit as her turned around and hopped up and down for them to continue on quickly.

"Fifteen huh? Same age as me then. Wait a minute, fifteen? So then what happened during the five years to make it so that you can't remember this place? How many times have you been here?" Luna inquired.

"I told you, I don't know. These memories only seem to be a first time for me. Maybe I came here more and maybe I didn't. Maybe this isn't real and I haven't really lost my memory, just my sanity." Alice proclaimed seeming as if she were just about ready to tear her hair out.

"Sorry, I keep forgetting myself," Luna chuckled softly before picking up the shard herself, "so then this is what that cat meant then. Shards like a mirror... you have any idea where we can find the other pieces?"

"I think I can find the Mad Hatter. You know I'm still convinced this is a dream." Alice smiled.

"Well you might want to start unconvincing yourself. I can't be held responsible for any... ideas you might have about getting out of this dream." Luna advised. The two continued along down the road following the white rabbit who had become quite peeved at the long pause.

* * *

Pete woke up with a ringing headache. Shaking his head to get rid of the constant gavelling in his ears and stars floating around his head, he groaned and got up.

"Oh, that hurt. What just happened?" Pete slowly took his surroundings, bushes and a few trees behind him. He tried to remember what had happened before. He was walking down the road looking for someone, someone...

"Ahh, that one Princess of Heart!" Pete shouted in realization. So he was walking down the road trying to look for Alice after knocking Sora out and allowing the cards to take him away. Then while he was walking he turned round slightly to see a girl slamming something into his face. It would have had to be the other one that was with Sora and had taken Alice under her care.

"Oooh, why when I find her. Imma give her the payback of a lifetime." Pete grumbled getting up and rubbing his buttocks. With Pete's mind still in a boggle, it was surprising to even him that his mission from Maleficent was still clear: capture Alice. Stumbling out of the bushes and back into the road, Pete looked up and down the road wondering which way they had gone. If they were searching for Sora then they would be heading down back to the clearing.

Pete whistled and out of nowhere appeared dozens of Rapid Thrusters. The needed no warning or alert from Pete, as they immediately marched down to the clearing with Pete following behind. The quick spinning of propellers seemed to disturb the wildlife in the area. Butterflies which appeared to be butter on toast with wings flew away from their trees and fluttered past the Heartless and Pete. Flowers also were jarred, some trying to shrink down to very little existence at the sight of this unwelcoming species while others cowered behind the inanimate plants such as bushes.

"I've gotta succeed this time or it'll be 'off with my head' from Maleficent." Pete gulped not wanting to think about the consequences of failing this mission. Why she chose him when they had a roster of villains at their disposal he didn't know, and why the Keyblade wielder just had to be here at the same time as he was made him ponder if his luck was truly rotten.

* * *

Luna, Alice and the white rabbit continued down the road, not really saying anything to each other. Luna wanted Alice to have enough time to figure out things on her own without pressure. The white rabbit just didn't feel like talking, seeming more preoccupied with his watch every second or so. Alice seemed to be mulling over her stance on whether this was a dream or real life. Luna had concluded a brief while ago while they had been walking that something bad must have happened to Alice in order for her to have forgotten Wonderland. While she wanted to bring it up, she was far more willing to see what Sora had to say about it first.

_Maybe he'll jog her memory. Or maybe he won't. _Luna knew that the shards were important in recovering Alice's past but was it the only way? It had seemed like a while since they had left the clearing and the rabbit wasn't making anything easier. If he wasn't here, Luna and Alice would've just jogged right through the forest as he had been reluctant to do so when Luna had suggested it.

"Oh dear." Luna could only mutter under her breath as her and the white rabbit stopped walking at the sight in front of them. Alice who had not been looking where she was going so much, bumped into Luna from behind. Apologising quickly, Alice's eyes also fixated on what was in front of her, a grin on her face. The road ahead gave way to a cliff, down below being their destination and there was...

"WOOOO!" Sora yelled happily at the top of his voice as he bounced up and down repeatedly on a rather large and orange mushroom. There were three giant mushrooms in all, leading up to the dead end road where the forest road concluded at. That is what they would use to get down but for now, at least Luna felt rather mesmerised by what the boy in front of her was doing. Stepping past the rabbit and stopping just before the edge of the cliff, she cleared her throat loudly grabbing the boy's attention down below.

"Oh, hey Luna. You gotta try this, come down!" Sora said jumping to unreachable heights using his 'trampoline'. Luna did not hesitate in jumping down each mushroom, if not for the jumping then to be with Sora once again. As soon as she stepped on the first mushroom she felt her feet sink in softly against the surface. It was rather squidgy and elastic much to Luna's delight. Jumping down from the first mushroom to the second and even the third, Luna felt herself being lifted up higher than she had ever jumped before.

Arriving on the mushroom with Sora on it Luna squealed brightly, "This is amazing. Hehe!" Luna couldn't help but giggle as Sora started to pull funny faces as if trying to throw her off guard. It was definitely his expertise.

"It's what Tiggers do best." Sora said giving Luna a high five while in the air.

"What are Tiggers?" Luna asked while trying to spread her hands like wings.

"You'll find out when we head back to Radiant Garden? Let's just say you'll be jumping for joy when you see them." Sora smiled as he headed right back down to ground level while Luna soared up again. During this, Sora told him about how he escaped from the cards. After he finished his story, Luna's comment about him being a "hero" made him blush slightly so he was glad they were both jumping up and down at the moment. While she would have loved to have been doing this forever, Alice's memories were now a prime concern and this was brought back to the front of her mind when Alice took her own chance to make a loud clearing of the throat.

"Haven't forgotten about us have you?"

Luna let herself fall to back to the ground along with Sora until they were only bouncing up and down slightly on the soft mushroom.  
"Sora, Alice here had forgotten anything to do with this place. She thinks it's a dream." Luna said updating Sora on things. She also told them about their encounter with the Cheshire cat again and his hint about shards of a mirror which revealed Alice's past.

"But it has to be a dream. Right? I mean I was told... I was told?" Alice looked straight into both of their eyes on she and the rabbit had gotten down from the road above, "what was I told?"

"You were told something? By who?" Luna asked as Alice clutched her head.

"I... can't remember." Alice sighed letting her hands slide down her face.

"Wait a minute. How old are you?" Sora asked. When Alice replied that she was now fifteen this seemed to have a noticeable impression on him, "That can't be. It's only been almost two years since I met you. You were around ten then weren't you? I was fourteen. How did you age so quickly?"

"Age so quickly? I've been aging normally along with everyone else in Oxford. Maybe it's that you've grown very slowly." Alice shot back.

"Huh? Oxford?" Sora looked at Luna for clarification but the shaking of her head told him she didn't know either, "Well I know some worlds run on a different time axis. But I didn't think the difference was that far apart."

"Time axis? Sorry, I'm not following." Luna said with Alice nodding her head to show she also wanted to know. Meanwhile the rabbit was trying to get their attention to tell them to press on but kept babbling nonsense instead.

"Riku, my friend," Sora added quickly to Alice, "told me that the worlds all run off a different time scale. So a day may be longer in one world than it would be in another. I didn't think that the difference amounted to years though. That's ridiculous."

"Uhm, maybe we should be moving on? Oh, I really am late now." The rabbit spoke finally seeming to find his words without choking on them.

The group started their walk down the wasteland Sora had just come from. Sora happily helped to direct the white rabbit if he were lost. This was pretty straight forward as Sora had only ever made one turn on his way back. Luna appreciated the change of scenery, even if the landscape wasn't all too lively. In fact it wasn't lively at all. The same fog which covered the clearing and the forests also covered this area making it hard to see what was in front of them.

"So are you sure about that time axis thing you were mentioning? How does it affect people who are travelling from world to world?" Luna whispered to Sora as they passed through the river Sora had jumped across.

"No idea. I didn't even know about it until Riku told me about a few weeks ago. But this seems to support what he was saying." Sora told her. He at first had not really been keen on what Riku had told him and so had just assumed it was only a period of the same day or somewhere in that range, Riku hadn't objected to it so he thought his guess was about right. But five years. That was something Sora had not expected and he was frankly scared of the thought of what would happen if he returned here again in one more year.

Luna turned back to Alice who had her arms folded and eyes staring at the ground, "You know Alice, if it was me, even if this was my dream, I'd want it to be real."

Alice looked up not sure what Luna was getting at, "Any reason in particular?"

"What I'm trying to say is that... if this is really a dream, then it must be a nightmare. Look at this," Luna pointed to the dull gray stretch of land covered by fog, "why would you even dream this up? I'm absolutely sure that something must have happened to change it. If it's your dream, take control."

"True. Wonderland wasn't like this when I was last here. What's up Alice?" Sora slowed down to stay alongside Alice with Luna on the other side.

"Ever since the Heartless came, the queen took complete control over Wonderland. There's an annoying big cat sometimes with her. I honestly think she might replace me, especially now if we don't hurry." The rabbit said coming to a stop at the levee, too uphill for Sora and the others to go up.

"Big cat?" Sora paused for a second before rolling his eyes, "if it is who I think you're talking about Wonderland is in big trouble. We have to get rid of Pete. Once he's gone, the Heartless won't listen to the queen anymore. Unless, he's turned her into a Heartless."

Luna seemed to jump out of her skin for a second before settling down, "A Heartless? He can do that?"

"Well, I don't think he can. But take the most dangerous ingredients such as greed and rage, mix them all together with the heart and the power of darkness and," Sora snapped his fingers, "you have a Heartless. Not exactly like the things we're fighting but close."

"It's that easy to become a Heartless?" Luna asked.

Sora hesitated, "Something like that. I might have exaggerated a bit here and there but I've come across a few people like that and they all had negative vibes coming from them. And if I remember correctly, the queen of hearts isn't exactly delightful to be around."

"So she's an easy target for Pete." Luna said understanding what Sora was saying and starting to feel slightly uncomfortable about meeting the woman.

"My goodness, what is that racket?" The white rabbit looked quickly. This caused everyone to stop and listen carefully. Even Jiminy had managed to pick up on the rather loud sound of fluttering. Sora knew he had heard that sound before, it was the same sound he had during his visit to Mulan's world. The fog made it hard to see, but he could just barely make out the figure of Pete along with a huge number of Rapid Thrusters.

"We need to go. There must be some other way to where we need to go." Luna looked at Sora as he summoned his Keyblade.

"There is. Over there!" Alice exclaimed pointing to two unusual giant teacups alongside the stream.

"Ah excellent thinking Alice. That stream leads down to a river which will take us straight to the Lotus Forest. If we use the teacups as a boat, we might be able to sail down the river." The white rabbit assessed and Alice smiled down at him before heading over to the tea cups. She grabbed one of them by the handle and dragged it onto the stream where it started to float downwards.

"Conveniently placed teacups. I'll take it," Sora praised expressing a nod of approval with Luna. Heading over to where the last cup was, they were about to drag it out when one of the Rapid Thrusters spun down towards them. Picking up on the sound, Sora turned around and delivered one strike finishing it off, "though they may not be so happy with it. Luna, take Alice and head down the stream. I'll catch up with you once I stop these things from following."

Luna however had other plans, "Sorry Sora, can't listen to you this time. I'm staying."

"Come on Luna, I can handle a few bees by myself. You don't trust me?" Sora smiled when Luna nudged her head in the direction of Pete who was coming closer and then looked back to Sora giving him a sly smile, "Good point." Sora said knowing when to give up.

"You guys start of slowly. We'll protect you from here and then we'll join up at the forest," Luna instructed Alice and the white rabbit. Alice nodded and helped the rabbit up into the teacup before getting on herself. She soon turned back to Sora, "Oh, and Sora?"

"Yeah?"

"Try not to get kidnapped again. For me?" Luna winked at him before summoning her Keyblade and rushing off already taking out a few of the Rapid Thrusters. Sora snickered and looked at Jiminy who was also doing the same.

"Well she told you off Sora." Jiminy chuckled.

"Alright, time to get back in the hood Cricket." Sora said. Once Jiminy had found himself in the safe comforts of Sora's hood, Sora proceeded to run and help Luna out. The two slashed their way through the Heartless while trying to make their way to Pete. Luna attempted to use fire magic once again and this time it managed to work. If the Cheshire cat's grin was mad, Luna's nearly matched it at this point. She really did feel on top of the world right now, much better than awhile ago and she wasn't going to let that momentum run out anytime soon.

* * *

"Pete! What have you done to Wonderland?" Sora growled taking out another Rapid Thruster to arrive in front of Pete with Luna.

Pete scanned the two before his eyes locked onto what Luna was holding, "Another... Key? Grr, this ain't fair I tell ya."

"Oh come on Pete, you should be used to things not being fair for you after all the fun times you had with me and my friends." Sora told him placidly.

"Oh Sora, don't bring him down. Look Pete, if it helps, I'm a novice. You might actually win this time." Luna teased only furthering the nervousness of Pete. Sora laughed out loud before whispering something in Luna's ear.

"Hey, what are you saying? Argh, I've had enough. If you want any information out of me, you'll have to beat it out of me and I don't go down without a good scuffle." Pete readied his fists. The Rapid Thrusters in the area also were quite hostile heading down to Sora and Luna.

Sora moved away from Luna's ear and focused on the target at hand, "I wouldn't consider that a good thing if I were you Pete." Sora charged in trying to slash at Pete however one Rapid Thruster came in between taking the blow. Luna concentrated on what Sora had wanted her to do and raised her Keyblade.

"Blizzard." She said feeling a slight chill throughout her body reaching her finger tips. A perfect blue shard flew out of Dream Seeker almost immediately, the recoil of the spell caused her to stumble backwards and lose her balance. Falling down, she breathed a sigh of happiness as her spell hit Pete in the shoulder resulting in slight frost covering his shoulder pad. Pete fell down at the force of the ice magic coming into contact with him and decided to wonder once again why he had been chosen to do this.

"Great one Luna. Keep practicing both." Sora helped her up. The two turned back to Pete and the other Rapid Thrusters surrounding them in a circle. Luna covered Sora taking out Rapid Thrusters from the back while he ran towards Pete. Getting up, Pete whistled for more Rapid Thrusters to attack however Sora all took them straight out, one strike per Rapid Thruster. Pete jumped up and smashed back down to earth sending a rippling shockwave in Sora's perimeter. Sora jumped, turned at an angle and slammed his Keyblade down in Pete's face knocking across the dry ground.

Pete was ready to give up however, whether it was arrogance or just knowing what could happen if he failed his mission, he didn't know but he knew he had to get up either way. He wasn't going to be embarrassed like before. Surrounding himself in a shield he yelled, "Well lookie here, Pete's invincible." Laughing, Pete charged at Sora knocking him on to the ground with his broad shoulders coming into contact with Sora's stomach. Sora shivered, teeth chattering as he felt a sharp pain around his ribs.

"I am not going to let you do that again." Sora hissed looking around. Luna noticing Sora clutching his ribs, backed up next to him and made sure any of the other Thrusters weren't close enough before turning to Sora.

"You okay? I can handle him if you want a breather." Luna said concerned.

"I'm fine. A little push won't keep me down," Sora said holding his breath in, "I have an idea. Try playing Pinball with him."

Luna looked up seeing Pete in a sphere before looking back down confused, "Pinball?"

"Yeah. I'll handle it from there." Sora gritted his teeth getting up by himself and rushing over to Pete. Ignoring the pain, Sora tried several strikes, all ineffective against the barrier while Pete just laughed.

"Something wrong? Oh boo hoo, seems like I might be winning after all." Pete sneered ready to pound Sora into the dirt.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Luna said imitating Sora's strike of cutting by an angle. Pete rolled down inside the sphere while Sora air dashed towards the other side quickly and used magnet to gather in some rapid thrusters and Pete. He then finished off with Aero Blade spinning like a propeller and shattering Pete's barrier as well as taking out the Rapid Thrusters caught in the magnet. Pete fell to the ground landing on his head at first before dropping down on his stomach.

It had seemed as if some of the pain had gone away as Sora looked victorious. Dropping down, he and Luna took care of the last group of Thrusters before turning back to Pete and pointing both their Keyblades at him.

"Now you're going to tell me what you did to Wonderland Pete. Or do we have to do this again." Sora told the quivering Pete.

"Okay okay. I had absolutely nothing to do with the way this place looks like now," Pete started.

"You're lying. If you think that'll get you off the hook then you're wrong." Sora chided.

"Hey you wanted to know what's up and I'm tellin' ya. When I came here, the world already looked like this. That's what made it so easy to get the Heartless into this world in the first place. The queen wanted them and out of kind generosity-"

"By generosity you mean turning her into a Heartless." Sora interjected again.

"Whatever. The point is whatever's goin' on in Wonderland has nothing to do with me except for the Heartless. If anything, I bet it's that Princess girl who has something to do with it." Pete grumbled.

"Alice?" Luna looked at Sora quickly before moving into talk, "what do you mean by-" But as Luna was about to finish her question, Pete jumped up and threw a smoke bomb stopping Sora and Luna from seeing. The smoke soon cleared up and the two soon found Pete nowhere to be found.

"He's gone. Stupid smoke." Sora sighed before pulling out one of the potion packets and taking a gulp out of it. Soon enough his insides began to feel much better and what little of the pain was left would leave over time.

"Sora, we need to hurry after Alice. If Pete's still here..." Jiminy shouted from Sora's hood.

"Yeah, Jiminy's right. Let's go catch up with them." Luna said before running back to where the teapot was. One thing was for sure, as Luna and Sora set out down the stream to the river. They were in for a wild ride.

* * *

**A wild ride it will be indeed. You ever notice that special theme in Kingdom Hearts where someone reaches for another person's hand? It signifies many things and- okay let's just say you'll see it in some form in the next chapter. Happy? Catch ya later!**


	17. Piece By Piece

**Another chapter for Wonderland and we meet more characters along the way as well as starting off with a flashback. Have fun reading. **

* * *

Chapter 17

Piece By Piece

-Flashback-

_The call of her name and the snap of a man's fingers disrupted Alice's thoughts. It had been a nice thought as well, wondering what her next adventures would be in the place so wonderful that she was glad she had discovered it herself. _

"_Yes sir?" Alice blinked twice not interested in the conversation at all with this mysterious stranger. He had appeared outside her bedroom door only two days ago, and had come every day since. His job was that of a doctor, and not the normal kind either. Her parents had apparently seen to it that she see one once they had started to notice a trend in the number of tutors being fired or walking out all shouting something about "Wonderland." _

"_Sorry?" Alice shifted her head slightly, the rays of sunlight present from the window obscuring her view of the individual in front of her. She believed his name was Doctor Zager or something to that effect. _

"_Wonderland." The doctor repeated expecting some sort of reaction to come out of the girl. He received nothing. If no one would listen to her, what would make him any different?_

"_I'm sorry doctor, I've already told all I know. Whether you believe me or not is up to you." Alice remarked just wanting to go back to sleep. Why her parents insisted these sessions take place in the morning of all times, she would never know._

_The Doctor sighed moving to the curtains and shutting them, "I believe that you are troubled. This Wonderland you speak off is nothing but a vessel you use to traverse your dreams. It's too weird. Too mad." _

"_I'd appreciate it if you could open them up again." Alice said not really wanting to stare in the man's face. Any obstructions in the way, she would gladly take. Who was he to call her adventures dreams? They may in fact be weird and mad but she wouldn't have her adventures any other way._

_Doctor Zager shook his head and sat on Alice's beside her, "Let's try something then. I am a psychiatrist after all if you have been paying attention for the last two days which I doubt. Close your eyes again Alice. Imagine this Wonderland of yours. Sitting on the chair over there might help." Zager pointed to the chair positioned opposite the side of the bed. Alice pouted before getting up and moving over to the chair rather sluggishly. Sitting down she sighed and closed her eyes for the second time since yesterday's session. Why would anything be different today? She knew her stance on the matter. _

"_What do you see?"_

"_I'm having tea with the Mad Hatter and March Hare. The white rabbit I told you about is also there but he's in a hurry, always jabbering about the same thing "I'm late, I'm late"." Alice chuckled to herself._

"_Focus Alice. Now what I want you to see is the danger of your little incursions. Do you see anything negative about Wonderland?" The doctor asked putting his hand to her forehead._

"_Why would I- Ah. Well there is the queen of hearts." Alice said. _

"_The Queen? Tell me more." _

"_She dominates the entire court. Biased evidence... and is a complete snob really. But it's okay, because a boy with a Key and a duck and dog jump into the rescue to help. Against her... against him." Alice smiled as she recalled Sora, Donald and Goofy defending her against the queen._

_Alice could feel the man's hand leaving her head slightly before resting on it again, "Tell me more about this boy, duck and dog." _

"_They're not from Wonderland. They're rather amazing really. They've saved me... twice. One was in someplace else when I and others were really in danger. The other, was just recently." Alice stopped not wanting to say more. She shouldn't try to reveal the other worlds to this man. She didn't even know why she was trying to recall anything to him. _

"_Ah, I see," the man let go of Alice and looked at his hands, "sorry I have to go. Our next appointment shall be, let's say three days from now? In the meantime girl, I would think about what this Wonderland place really is to you." The man got up and left in a hurry leaving a puzzled Alice._

* * *

-Present Day-

The rushing waters of the river made it hard for the teacup to move down it as Sora and Luna soon found out. The two were rotated left and right as the cup thrashed and lashed against the vicious waves. Sora and Luna proceeded to use their Keyblades as paddles to stir the cup in the right direction. The giant water pellets from before had reappeared from the sky, dropping down and knocking against the teacup throwing it left and right.

"I wonder how Alice and the rabbit are doing." Luna shouted to Sora as the pounding heavy rain made it hard to hear even when next to one another.

"Just keep rowing! We need to get some of this water out." Sora replied back just as loudly. The rainwater was pouring into the boat slowly but surely flooding the interior where Sora and Luna currently stood. Fishing his hands in to the rising water, Sora quickly tried to scoop it out while Luna moved from left to right to stir the teacup. Surprisingly they found, the space in the teacup was enough for them to manoeuvre around each other without much difficulty.

"We're doing well so far!" Luna called from behind Sora. The teacup soon reached a small cascade and dropped down it quickly; interrupting Sora's throwing of the water and knocking him back into Luna.

"Sorry 'bout that." Sora apologised as they continued down the river once more. They had to keep a look out for Alice and the White Rabbit who would have gotten off where the Lotus Forest was though with rapid turns of the teacup and the amount of rain pouring down, finding them would not be an easy task. Suddenly lightning stuck and tree fell over blocking the river path ahead.

"What rotten luck." Sora muttered. Luna tried to slow the teacup down but to no avail as the waters could only push and drag the two to their doom. Sora turned his Keyblade to the tree and tried to strike raid the tree several times, each cutting into the trunk of the tree. Luna also provided assistance though used fire instead not really confident in her ability of throwing her Keyblade yet. Eventually once again there came a time when her fire magic would stop working. It was fine as the tree soon split in half falling down the river however she had to wonder why it had done this twice so far. Was her Keyblade defective or something?

"And finally, it stops." Sora's announcement brought Luna's attention from her Keyblade. The rain was getting lighter until it eventually finished. The flow of the river returned to normal and the teacup floated down the stream as if nothing bad had happened previously. In fact, the water in the teacup had completely disappeared as if by magic even though Sora and Luna still felt quite wet themselves.

"Awesome. Now we just need to find Alice," Luna looked at her Keyblade again, "Sora, I don't know why but sometimes when I try to use magic it doesn't work."

"That might be because your energy needs time to recharge." Sora answered venturing a possible guess.

"Energy?" Luna repeated putting away her Keyblade.

"Yeah, magic is pretty much based on how much of your energy you use. I also had that problem for a while before I figured it out. When you use up your energy doing magic, your body needs to recharge in order to use it again." Sora explained.

Luna's frown soon crawled into a tiny smile, "So, it's nothing to worry about then?"

"Nothing to worry about. Your body will get used to it eventually," Sora grinned before turning back in front of him, "Ah, there's Alice!"

The teacup docked, with the help of Alice, docked near her and the white rabbit and Sora and Luna got out. The lotus forest loomed ahead, much more similar to how Sora remembered it than the other area yet still quite different at the same time. For example there was still a moderate amount of fog still in the area.

"We need to find the Mad Hatter." Alice told both of them eagerly before setting off on a jog down the path while holding her dress to keep herself from tripping over. Sora and Luna shrugged at each other before setting down the road as well.

"But what about... oh no." Not wanting to be left alone, the white rabbit also hurried after the three while seriously considering alternatives that he could suggest to the queen rather than her favourite method of beheading.

* * *

After jumping across a bunch of lily pads giant and strong enough to support their weight, Sora and Luna arrived on the other side with Alice waiting for them. The lotus forest was a maze, with multiple exits leading to different places and even some the same room but in different parts of that room (more commonly referred to by Jiminy as the Bizarre Room). Immediately spell casting specialty Heartless popped up, these ranging from the Blue Rhapsodies to Red Nocturnes and Yellow Operas. Sora and Luna alternated quickly between magic and aerial combat as they worked to wither down the group while Alice stayed behind them. A zap from a Yellow Opera while she wasn't looking, knocked Luna onto the floor and made her rather dizzy. Sora took care of the Heartless before helping Luna back up.

"You alright?" Sora inquired as he turned back just in time to block a fire spell from the only Red Nocturne left.

"Don't worry, I'm only just getting amped up." Luna snickered swinging upwards and slashing through the Red Nocturne with her Keyblade.

"Oh you are just terrible." Sora laughed as he finished off the last few Heartless. The group continued down the aimless path, not knowing where to go and Alice at the top of their thoughts. Luna couldn't help but wonder about her own memories and wondering if they would come back entirely for the last time she had a dream about her own person had been on the beach with the other girl a few days ago. At this point as well she had completely forgotten about the other girl's name in her dreams, this made her slightly disappointed in herself as she could have recalled the girl's name being uttered in her first dream. Was her memory really getting better or was it just getting worse? Were her dreams even real? She had no reason not to believe them and they felt right but at the same time in a way, the dreams scared her.

Luna was pulled out of her semi-conscious state by the rustling of bushes. Alice pushed her way past taking the lead once again, and certainly her curiosity couldn't have possibly been at its peak already.

"Hello. You must be the uh, caterpillar?" Alice almost swooned as she saw the caterpillar that appeared to have a pipe in its mouth and was smoking quite heavily without looking like it had a care in the world.

"Stand straight girl!" The caterpillar took his pipe out to immediately berate her posture. Alice straightened up so that she met directly eye to eye with the strange creature. Sora and Luna had decided to stay in the back for awhile in order to give Alice and the caterpillar space to speak, though why anyone would want to talk to a caterpillar was beyond both of them, "Now. Are you Alice?"

"Why yes. Yes I am." Alice's voice seemed to choke in on itself before stabilizing once again.

"Wrong. You are not Alice." The caterpillar took a puff out of his pipe before staring straight into Alice's eyes.

"I'm sorry? How can I be anyone else but Alice? That's who I am." Alice turned back to Sora and Luna. With the two nodding, Alice returned their smiles back to the caterpillar. It seemed as if the two were engaged in some sort of staring contest.

Eventually the caterpillar relented, curling backing into his original state, "And might I dare ask, where are you?" The smell and smoke from his breath even from far away threw Alice into a coughing fit.

"Oh, well who's the one with the bad posture now? Anyway, what are you even talking about? This is Wonderland isn't it?" Alice managed to say throughout the coughing and waving away of the rings of smoke.

"Is it really? Well I seem to know that but do you?" The caterpillar said sarcastically and rolled its eyes in a snobbish manner.

Sora however found it his time to object, "Hey, that's not fair. She's lost her memory and you're trying to confuse her even more." He had his own suspicions that this caterpillar knew more than he was letting up. Maybe he was even in cahoots with the Cheshire cat.

"Fair? Look around you idiot boy, what exactly is fair about this?" The caterpillar gave them time to look and so they did taking in all of the somber scenery of the area. He was right, it wasn't fair but even so Alice did not need to be pressured at this moment, "As unfair as fear is the queen towers over her pawns with power. And then the darkness comes. So I ask again, who are you and where are you? Because I am not likely to believe that you were the same Alice once upon a time ago."

"Enough with the cryptic riddles, this is absolute nonsense. If this is my dream I honestly wonder what I could have done to spur on such a dream. I am Alice; I was born in London and moved to Oxford. I have parents and two sisters. Somehow I've ended up in a dream where I'm chasing rabbits and my own memory along with it. The place is called Wonderland and I've just met two new friends," Alice pointed to Sora and Luna, "is that enough to quench your thirst for questions?"

The caterpillar paused for a while before continuing to smoke on his pipe, "So you really have lost your memory then. I see. Then perhaps this will jog it." The caterpillar moved by his position and headed on through the bushes leaving a shard in his stead.

Sora and Luna moved in closely as Alice picked up what looked like the same shard in shape as the last one. Looking into it, Alice was immediately beset with more images flooding through her mind, one of her new memories telling her that she had met the caterpillar before as a ten year old.

"So what did you see?" Luna asked after she was sure that the blonde had returned to her normal state.

"More about Wonderland, I've met that caterpillar before and I also painted some roses red before I was taken to a court, and I use that term very lightly, by the queen." Alice mused.

Sora smile turned slightly hopeful, "Alice, do you remember anything about me, Donald and Goofy?"

"Why would I? Have I met you before?" Alice asked. This seemed to hurt Sora deep down however he tried to be persistent on this matter.

"You have met me, on three occasions. The first time was in that court. Are you absolutely sure you don't know me Alice? Try and remember harder, please." Sora pleaded taking hold of her hand and staring into her eyes. If he could do anything, just about anything to help jog her memory he would do it but he knew ultimately that Alice had to recall the events on her own. He knew in a way how sad it was to not be remembered because he had felt Xion and Roxas' pain for awhile.

Alice closed her eyes and tried to picture any time where she had met Sora previously. The end result was her sighing and shaking her head sadly.

"I'm sorry Sora. I just can't... maybe there's more. I still haven't met the Mad Hatter yet, or the queen. Speaking of the queen, where did the white rabbit go?" Alice inquired slipping out of Sora's hands and emerging out of the bushes. However sad Sora may be, she was right though, there was still hope and Sora believed in that because of one other thing. When Pooh bear had lost his memory, one of the last things Pooh had re-established was the connection between him and Sora. Looking at this situation now, Sora was nostalgically reminded of that event. Luna standing in between the two was once again preoccupied in her own world, where she had just realised from Sora's plea that she herself was hurting everyday and what seemed like a gap in her heart would only increase every day until she could remember everything.

_Now is not the time to mope Luna. Alice and Sora need me. _She decided quickly turning around and dragging Sora with her.

"Woah! What are you doing Luna?" Sora asked shocked by the sudden surprise tug.

"We have to be there for her Sora. Even if she can't remember you right now and in the worst case that she may never, we can at least support her through it instead of questioning ourselves right now." Luna announced her thoughts. The two pushed past the bush to come back out on the other.

"How did- Oh, I guess it was kind of obvious huh? Well actually, I was already thinking about that." Sora replied knowing his objective at the moment was to keep Alice safe and worry about the repercussions later.

"Uh huh, and I said it first." Luna let go of his hand as the two watched the white rabbit literally drag himself towards the three humans, his panting was completely irregular and heavy.

"We should take a break. I don't know about you guys but I am exhausted. Plus it's getting rather dark." Sora stretched his arms moving them each around in a circular motion one at a time.

"Me too. We just have to hope a Heartless or Pete doesn't jump out while we do. I could use a nap." Luna yawned as Alice gave her wholehearted agreement on the matter. And so it was decided that they would camp out in the woods for the night while planning for the day to come.

* * *

A new day was upon the group and they started it by setting off once more throughout the woods. They had a clear dissatisfaction on their faces from the cold hard ground that they had to sleep on and once or twice for some period of time, both Alice and Luna could hear Sora mutter something in his sleep however regardless they managed to get enough rest surprisingly. On the way they encountered more Heartless which they defeated quite quickly as they simply mere shadows and Creeper Plants. Soon enough they stepped into what was once a deserted garden for Sora but was now occupied by two residents.

"It's the Mad Hatter and March Hare." Alice introduced them as she walked over. She seemed to be representing more of her previous mannerisms that Sora had known her for such as her curiosity and at this point, who wouldn't be?

Both of them seemed quite far from normal somehow managing to appear rather hysterical and comical while sipping their tea calmly at a long table. The atmosphere of the garden also seemed livelier than other places which was funny because two was anything but a party.

"Oh look, it's Alice!" The Mad Hatter exclaimed jumping across the table and rushing through the plates, teapots and utensils on the table knocking off some of the items in the process. He jumped off the table and shook her hand furiously, "Oh it's so glad to see you!"

Once again, the Cheshire cat popped out of nowhere scaring pretty much everyone. Sora supposed this was usual business for the purple and pink striped feline. He sat by the table along with the March Hare who was seemed to be acting very hyperactively.

"Wrong Alice apparently. This one thinks it's a dream." The cat informed while peering into the spout of the teapot.

"Wrong Alice? WRONG ALICE?! My goodness, that's not good. I'm positively sure it's the right Alice. How about this. Why is a raven like a writing desk?" The Hatter brought Alice to the table while awaiting her answer. Sora, Luna and the White Rabbit invited themselves in sitting down at the table. While Sora was quite enthusiastic about digging into the multiple jam sandwiches and cookies, Alice was rather apprehensive about it. Though her stomach seemed to hold different emotions and so she dug in as well to satisfy it. Meanwhile she tried to avoid the cat's eyes as much as possible as she could feel it observing her.

Alice tried to think of a possible answer but could come up with nothing, "I have no idea."

"Exactly! That's the answer! See, I'm sure she's the real Alice. Only she would remember that." The Hatter applauded while providing her tea in her cup. He moved over to the fill in the Cheshire's, Luna's, Sora's and the rabbit's cup respectfully before returning to his own seat.

"Why thank you, I don't mind a cup once in a while." The cat smiled picking up the cup by the handle with his tail and drinking his dew.

"No really I don't know. Unless, that's the answer. I was never good at riddles you see..." Alice stopped immediately when she saw the disappointed look on the Hatter's face.

"Uh, Hatter? Alice is having some trouble with her memory." Sora with the help of Luna continued to explain to the Hatter about Alice's memory. When they finished the Mad Hatter had what could only be described as a dumb grin on his face.

"Oh, I see. Well settle down dear. All you need is a helping of tea and you'll be right back to your old self." The Hatter pushed the tea slightly over to Alice, who was about to take it when the March Hare snatched the cup from her and chugged it down. He seemed a bit too delirious at the moment, constantly bouncing up and down in his seat.

"Well, looks like someone had a bad hare day. Hahaha, get it? Hare day?" Sora laughed at his own joke before immediately shutting his mouth when no one said anything.

"Wait, I think I... nope, that was just terrible." Luna tutted staring into her now empty cup.

"Yours was any better?" Sora shot back before taking another bite out of his sandwich.

"I must say, that was rather rude of you wasn't it?" Alice asked staring at the March Hare, "and I hardly doubt any sort of tea will give me my memory back."

"Ah but if you want an answer, the queen's absolutely stark raving mad." The March Hare held both cups up as the hatter poured more tea into each cup. The hare then opened his mouth wide and let the liquid pour down his mouth and face. Luna had to wonder if that pot contained and infinite amount of tea in it and the others were for show. She was soon however, proved wrong when the Hatter reached for another teapot and dragged it towards him.

"Is this all you do? Drink tea and act merry like nothing bad is happening?" Luna said having enough and standing up. While she wasn't sure about what she was about to do, it sickened her that they all seemed so oblivious of what was going on around them.

"Not much we can do dearie, so yes we have tea every time, all the time," the Hatter continued moving his sleeves up to show a broken wristwatch pointing at 6 o' clock, "you see, we used to work for the our dear queenie once. However apparently our voices were so horrible she sentenced us to death for murdering the time."

"The time? What in the world are you talking about?" Luna was in absolute disbelief now. Was he even serious? Even better, why was she asking?

"Yes I know. But we escaped and because of that he stopped us in our tracks. That's why he's always 6 o' clock." The Hatter finished and didn't seem to notice that Luna was not pleased with the story. Neither was Sora but he seemed better at hiding it.

Luna shifted her eyes downwards to the watch, "He? And by the way, I think you'll find it's just broken."

"The time girl, the time. He moves ever onward except in this case where he's absolutely bonkers, I tell you. Out for our heads he is." The March Hare answered going into a laughing fit for some reason unexplainable to the rest of them.

"Buuuut... if you do want to help, you can visit the queen of hearts. A right nasty piece of work but maybe you can convince her to have a party once in a while." The Hatter suggested taking off his hat. On top of his head was the Dormouse who was sleeping rather peacefully until the Hatter moved into scratch his head. Alice seemed to remember him briefly from what she could remember of her past 'dreams' however he hadn't seemed to be a very prominent character in them since she could only remember bits and pieces about him compared to the other two. The Dormouse jumped up in fight and moved down the table next to where the Cheshire cat was sitting.

"Hello." The cat flashed a grin at the mouse.

"Cat? CA- oh I just can't be bothered anymore." The Dormouse slouched down lazily leaning against the teapot as he tried to get some sleep.

"Oh, you are no fun." The cat replied resting his head on his paws.

"More tea?" The Mad Hatter approach the pot the Dormouse leaned on and took it making the mouse fall and bump its head.

"Hmm that's strange." The Hatter tried to pour more tea out however none came, only the occasional pang of something hitting against the teapot from inside could be heard. Taking off the top and looking inside, the Hatter pulled out a shard of glass from inside.

"Let me see that." Alice was quick to swipe the mirror piece out of the Hatter's hands and looked at her own reflection. Sora, Luna, Cheshire and the white rabbit patiently waited while the Hatter and Hare started to blabber on about how they weren't sure what was going on.

Eventually Alice looked up and smiled, "I've been here twice. Both were when I was ten. I never believed I would dream of this place again. But here I am, and here you are. Are they just figments of my imagination? I'd rather not have them be. I've missed this place, but I don't know why I stopped dreaming about it."

The Cheshire cat's eyes widened as he grinned madly, "You still think this is a dream Alice?"

"Of course I do. But it's okay, if I wake up. I'll dream of this place again. And everyone will be there." Alice told him, she couldn't possibly be any happier. Well, she would if the place was normal again, just like the other two dreams.

"Well dreams have a way of taking shape but at the end of the day I'll leave it up to you to decide the best course of action." The cat disappeared from his seat making Luna in particular flinch and feel uncomfortable for the second time that day.

"Alice, you still don't remember me?" Sora asked. He truly wondered if this was all the memories she would regain.

Alice shook her head frowning, "I'm sorry Sora. I tried, I really did but I couldn't."

"It's okay. At least you tried your best. And I guess it's more fun this way anyway. Becoming friends with someone all over again feels surprisingly good." Sora chuckled whole heartedly. Maybe he could start over again and besides, he knew Alice way more than she knew him. After his first time with her, his time in Castle Oblivion and his data version's time with her, it seemed all quite one-way.

"You're right. It is quite fun isn't it?" Alice held out her hand, "I'm Alice."

"Sora." He grinned and accepted it. They both, along with Luna knew what they had to do now. It was to either confront the Queen of Hearts and possibly Pete, or nothing. After saying their goodbyes to the Mad Hatter and March Hare (with Luna being a bit reluctant to do so), the white rabbit guided Sora, Luna and Alice through the woods which would take them to the Queen's court.

* * *

**So next up is the final chapter for Wonderland which hopefully should be up by the end of the weekend or if not by the Tuesday. What to expect? Two words: Jaberwocky and Bandersnatch. Wait that's three. Um, well...see you then *rushes off*  
**


	18. Through the Looking Glass

**Back again on a new PC and this time we're finishing off Wonderland. This chapter is a long one so brace yourselves folks and I'll stop yapping and let you read now.**

* * *

Chapter 18

Through the Looking Glass

The rather simplistic design and outdoor court seemed more of the same to Sora and Alice. One would at first assume it was a normal court, but looking more deeply into it, the court was ruled by one of the most biased and oppressive individuals in the world, or worlds as Sora knew it. They approached the queen slowly, her highness also not seeming to have changed much in the time Sora had first seen her. Rather big and vile at heart, the queen dominated the entire atmosphere with her demeaning presence suddenly bring in a chill across the once still air. Probably the one who was most nerve-wracked about this meeting was the White Rabbit whose eyes were redder and glossier looking than ever. As a newcomer, Luna could only look ahead and behind her as they passed the card soldiers in a line. They didn't exactly seem to be doing anything however except for standing and staring right in front of them like statues.

"He- Her ma- majesty, the Qu- Queen of Hearts, per- presiding!" The rabbit wheezed and coughed but eventually managed to splutter out before falling on to the ground.

"Are you alright? I think you might need to take a nap." Luna said hurrying over to pick him up.

The queen snapped her head up immediately and buried her eyes into the brunette's, "Leave him."

Luna looked up at met the bigger woman's eyes. Cold and lifeless, "But he needs he-"

"DID YOU NOT HEED MY WORDS CHILD?" The Queen yelled causing Luna to screech and back off the rabbit eventually knocking into a card of spades. The Queen's next words were much calmer and a smile overtook her face, "Now. Tell me what it is that you'd like dear?"

Alice stepped forward and gulped before beginning, "Hello ma'am. My name is A- um-" she paused not sure if she should provide her real name. The last time she had been here, the queen had practically gathered a mob to chase her out of Wonderland.

"Um. That's what it is." Sora said catching on quickly, "and I'm Sora, and she's Luna."

Alice was about to rebuke this new name for her however the queen cut in before she could. Getting off her seat, the queen proceeded down the stairs until she stopped before Alice.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Um." the Queen ruffled Alice's hair much to her annoyance, "I am quite busy as of late. Nineteen heads to chop and several more sentences yet to be handed down. Next time they should learn to make my apple pies properly. Oh wait; they won't have a next time." The Queen laughed and danced around Alice who could only give awkward glances to Sora and Luna. Luna who had just briefly apologised to the spade made to re-join Sora and Alice, though even then, she was rather hesitant about being near what first impressions could easily describe as a foul tempered woman disguised in a sickly sweet smile.

Alice's sharpened her breath before saying, "Um, yes I-"

"Yes I know your name is Um, now what is it dear, you can tell me. Don't be shy now." The Queen fluttered her eyelids at Alice though this action only seemed to come off as repugnant instead to the smaller girl. Alice honestly was not sure what she was going to saying anymore, as she was currently at loss for words.

"She was wondering if you know about what happened to this place. I doubt that it was always like this right?" Luna covered for Alice. She wasn't any more successful of showing her nervousness around the Queen instead choosing to look at the ground and twiddle her thumbs.

"Well I wouldn't worry about that dear. After all, progress is made from regress. You know the saying, one pawn backwards and ten queens forward. Now you don't mind if I ask you a question dear?" The Queen eyes came shifting to Sora suspiciously as if she had seen him before but then eventually focused back on Alice. Sora wasn't surprised if she couldn't remember him; it had apparently been about five years since their encounter anyway, at least in Wonderland's time.

"But of course your majesty, it's always a pleasure." Alice curtsied looking at Sora and Luna to do the same as well.

"Well, I was wondering if you've seen a girl named Alice. Pete was supposed to bring her here yet he hasn't come back." The Queen of Hearts asked.

"No your majesty, I've never heard anyone referenced as such a name." Alice replied to the question adding a sense of curiosity in her acting. Sora and Luna looked at each other before nodding slightly. It seemed as if the Queen and Pete were working together and what happened to Wonderland seemed to have been related to them.

"Hmm, well since you're here. Perhaps you'd like to join in witnessing one of my trials. I have quite the bunch of dunces lined up." The Queen proceeded to walk back to her chair, as she did so all the cards planted themselves face down flat on the ground.

"Oh, you're majesty we couldn't. We should- should just be going n- now." Luna laughed nervously trying to move back to the forest only to find the entrance blocked by two Card of Hearts who she could sworn had deliberately just stood up from the ground as if to tease her.

"But I Insist. Please." It seemed as if it had taken the Queen a whole bunch of effort in order to say the word but when she did she had also pulled off a smile along with that told the whole group that there was going to be no choice in the matter.

* * *

The general consensus among the group was a feeling a despair, pretty much stationary on their faces. Alice was about to sit next to Sora and Luna when the Queen ushered her instead to sit by her side.

"That's where my husband usually sits. Let's say he won't be occupying that seat anymore after he cheated on me." The queen chuckled. Alice guessed that like with all off the Queen's assumptions, it had been a misunderstanding gone wrong. The Queen, not being one to accept her wrong-doings instead denied pretty much everything in order to reinforce her dominance in Wonderland. Luna stared at the Queen in utter discontent, hoping somehow that rays would shoot out of her eyes and fry the big woman. As soon as she entered the court, she could feel a weird vibe in the atmosphere and she wasn't the only one. Sora had his face in his palm and was trying to figure out a way to get out of the situation. They had only come to piece together Alice's memories and now they were stuck watching innocent people receive sentences for petty crimes. On their way to the castle, Sora had filled Luna in on the corrupt trial system and at this point he might not have needed to as she was going to see it with her own eyes soon.

The Queen had also decided to wait on the White Rabbit to recover from exhaustion before reconvening the court. The Rabbit slumped over to his stand before blowing on his trumpet sending out rather out of tune notes.

"Bring forth the prisoners." The Queen clapped twice and out came the first two escorted by two spades. These were two figures Alice could fairly remember, although she had tried to get away from them quite quickly, one was Tweedledee and the other Tweedledum, she could never tell which. To Sora and Luna however, they were just two little round men who seemed identical to each other in pretty much every way, "You stand here accused of stealing from the royal cookie jar. Do you have anything to say in your defence?"

Luna had to stop herself from bursting out into a laughing fit. Clutching her insides could only do so much and so she lowered her head to her knees to let out a snort. Sora, who was sitting right besides her, couldn't help but beam too while shaking his head. Once again, petty crimes.

"In your defence your majesty, I think you've had enough to eat for one day." This one, who Alice decided to be Tweedledee, shook his head at the burly brute in front of him.

"So we decided to help you out on your way to ruling the Kingdom your majesty." The other, Tweedledum spoke out. Alice, Sora and Luna had to stifle a laugh at this.

"No cookie a day, keeps the Heartless away." They both said in unison pointing at the Queen who seemed absolutely on the edge at the moment.

"How dare you? I am the Queen of Hearts. You will respect me or face the consequences." The Queen pounded her fists onto the sides of her chair making Alice jump several feet in the air.

"To be fair, I think we're already facing the consequences you majesty." Tweedledum appeared glum.

"Yes, that face of yours is a consequence that even the Jabberwocky wouldn't like to come across." Tweedledee tutted mockingly. It was obvious that the Queen had had enough. Alice seemed to picture the Queen's deceased husband clamouring under pressure to tell his wife she was beautiful every day. That brief thought seemed to dampen what was coming next.

The Queen sneered like a bull with steam seeming to come out of her nostrils, "That is it. Forget the cookie jar. The court finds the defendant guilty as charged, for the crime of insulting the highest superior in the land, me. Off with their heads!"

The cards neared the frightened pair however Luna had enough, "I object!" Luna could feel the eyes of the court following her as she jumped down from the stands and approached the Queen.

"And what do you want?" The Queen was too of her rocker at the moment to even care about toning her voice down. Obviously she wouldn't be satisfied until she saw the sentence passed through however Luna wasn't about to give her that satisfaction.

"Well, I…" Now Luna wasn't sure what to say. She had felt that objecting would be a good idea at the time however now she wasn't so sure. Could she go ahead with calling the Queen out like this and risking her own head? "Yes, I believe that the punishment you handed to them is a bit too swift. How about… something more lasting?"

The Queen seemed to consider this for a second, "Hmm, that does seem more appropriate. In fact you're absolutely right. Why instant when instead I can do slowly. Heartless!" She snapped her fingers and three Creeper Plants appeared. Luna's plan had been to hopefully stall the execution so she could figure out a plan along with Sora. This had not been what she meant by stalling. The Queen ordered the Creeper Plants to hit the two round men with bullet seeds forcing Luna to intervene once more. Summoning her Keyblade she tried to hit the bullets back however her swing was slightly off and she was caught by the attack instead launching her back painfully across the ground.

"What in the world is that?" The Queen pointed at the Keyblade next to Luna.

"That there is a Keyblade," Pete unfortunately appeared in the nick of time, running out of the forest and knocking the Hearts guarding the entrance. Pete stopped to catch his breath before pointing at Alice, "And that would be Alice."

The Queen turned to Alice before smiling darkly, "Ah, Alice. Hasn't it been a while? Forgot to say hello? Or was this Um your way expressing your hatred to me?"

Sora jumped out of the stands as well with his Keyblade in hand and rushed to Luna's aid. Helping her up, he used the cure spell on her to heal her wounds.

"Thanks Sora. I'm fine. Just help Alice out." Luna clinched her teeth tight as she looked over to Sora.

"Oh, but you won't be able to, since you'll all be going down with her. Do it queenie." Pete laughed mightily. The Queen glared at him in anguish.

"Are you telling me how to my job? I am the Queen and you will stay silent or join them!" Raged the Queen. Tweedledee and Tweedledum inched away step by step only to find themselves blocked by a bunch of spades who pointed their weapons at the duo. Sora charged his Keyblade and shot a beam of light at the Queen knocking her out of her chair and momentarily stunning her. This gave Alice enough time to leave the Queen and re-join Sora and Luna in the middle. Luna picked up Dream Seeker hurriedly and knocked away a few of the cards that were coming her way. One of the spades tried to stab out Sora however he jumped high in the air and swung horizontally at the card's head, knocking him out of range. The Queen had gotten back up in the meantime, straightened her crown quickly while managing to still appear livid. Clicking her fingers again, the Creeper Plants which Sora and Luna had neglected to take care of dug their roots underground and came up below Sora, Luna and Alice entangling around their legs and slamming all three across the floor.

"Now, off with their heads!" The Queen seemed to yell with more passion than ever before to the cards. Pete however whistled to stop the oncoming onslaught.

"Wait a minute. I have a better idea." Pete walked over to the Queen and whispered in her ear. To Sora, Luna and Alice's anxiety, the Queen's smile only got wider and wider. She seemed to very much being enjoying whatever Pete was saying.

"A change of plans then," The Queen pushed past the cards. The roots around the trio's legs disappeared as her smile changed to an innocent one, "the Bandersnatch then?" It suddenly seemed as if a cold breeze had just passed over the court room as the cards amongst Sora, Luna and Alice began to mutter amongst themselves, their faces showing shock and oddly enough, a look of apology. Whatever this Bandersnatch was, it didn't seem good.

"Bandersnatch? Thanks, but no thanks. We'll just be leaving now, see ya." Sora faked pleasances as he got up and brushed himself off. Turning around to leave, he found himself rebound of Pete's giant belly and consequently fell back on the ground dizzily.

"Better make it one per maze. If I've learned anything from this little nitwit, it's that he works best when he's with his friends." Pete divulged looking from Sora to the Queen.

"Excellent. So who shall go first? Ah, since you seemed all so keen for an objection. How about you?" The Queen's eyes bore in Luna's like hawk eyes.

"No, not Luna. Pick me instead." Sora jumped back up quickly to retort. If something bad happened to her, or Alice, he would never be able to forgive himself. Whatever this Bandersnatch was, he could handle it, he was sure of it. Luna on the other hand, he wasn't so sure of.

"The Queen's word is absolute and I pick this girl. Don't worry; you'll get your turn after your friend meets her grizzly end. And Alice… we have some catching up to do." The Queen ordered Alice to stand and walk with her to the courtyard. Sora would follow along with them while Luna was to set foot inside the hedge maze. Walking out of the court, they came to two split paths, one going into the maze and the other leading to the courtyard. As she passed more of the cards, Luna saw them expressing looks of worry for her on their faces, or at least she assumed it was for her.

"Now, on the off chance you do get out of that maze, which you won't, I'll be here to finish ya off, got that pipsqueak?" Pete announced to her as she stood outside what could possibly be the end of her short journey.

"Not if I have anything to say about it. Listen Luna, I'll try to find you and get us out of this. For now, just remember everything you've learned so far, okay?" Sora tried to calm Luna's nerves down. This managed to work a little bit but only because he was there right now with her. Once she entered that area, she would be completely alone. No more relying on help to get her through these messes. Luna closed her eyes and inhaled and exhaled several times.

"Time to go in." One of the cards said to her and she opened her eyes once more, determined not to show anymore weakness in front of Pete and the Queen. She would be having a hard enough time not showing it once she entered the hedge maze anyway. She strived in confidently, managing to pick up a whisper of good luck from the card as she entered.

* * *

Luna's first step into the hedge maze was her most terrifying step yet. A loud howl could be heard from somewhere deeper within causing Luna to stop, her feet half way of the ground just about to make her second step. Luna brought out Dream Seeker and walked slowly past the green hedges. She figured it would be best to take her time with this instead of just rushing straight for an exit. The fog also didn't help with her view though it wasn't that thick that Luna could barely see. She only had to survive long enough to wait for a rescue, the problem was that she had no idea how long that would take and how far this Bandersnatch was from her. Hearing another howl, louder this time, Luna swung her Keyblade frantically as she came across a split path however came across nothing.

Luna sighed, "Calm down Luna. Yeah like I'll listen to what I just said." Luna mumbled to herself deciding on taking the left path. She made her steps as soft as possible so as not to attract any nearby attention though if thing in question could smell her, this wouldn't do any good. Analysing her environment, Luna found that the towering hedges helped to create shadows which she could use to blend into. It wouldn't do any good close up to the creature but from far away, and with her small height included, it could be an advantage. Clutching to the hedge, she slid her way across the path paying attention to both left and right paths hoping silently that the Bandersnatch did not have the special ability to fly or dig underground in the meanwhile. Reaching another fork, she took the right path this time and hurried past a bush in the middle of the area containing a bunch of white roses. For a place that was so dangerous, she found they took an awful lot of care for it considering a monster could be let loose on their heads at any time.

_I wonder how much the Queen comes here. I doubt a lot._ Luna thought as she proceeded down the lonely pathway ahead. She soon came across a dead end and nodded her head, expecting to come across some problems. Luna turned back and took a left this time at the fork hoping to find some sign of life besides the Bandersnatch of course. The next few minutes were too quiet for Luna to bare. In these minutes, Luna had come across a few more dead ends and had not even heard from the Bandersnatch, yet she couldn't shake the feeling she was being watched. Maybe it was paranoia or maybe the Bandersnatch had the power of invisibility (which Luna doubted) but this sense of false security was enough to make her doubt even the slightest of her movements, as if they were all being calculated by someone and one wrong step could cost her more than what she was actually willing to give.

A few more yards and she heard it, in the distance. Heavy footsteps ripping the ground it trod on. And then, she saw it. It was a mammoth of a monster, hairy with black spots on its white coat and its eyes as droopy as a bulldog. If Luna could describe its temper, it would be on the border of fuming and furious. _You can do this Luna, just remember your training._ Luna had to constantly remind herself as the monster looked her directly in the eyes before charging at her. Luna was just about ready to retract this statement before the monster slammed into her body launching her into one of the hedges. Luna found it a miracle she was alive, let alone conscious as she struggled to get back up however the Bandersnatch was quicker, aiming to finish her off mercilessly instead of playing with its food.

"Freeze!" Luna could barely say as she pointed at the ground before her. A large patch of ice was created causing the creature to slip and slide across the ground before slamming into the hedge next to her. Luna got up and started to limp past the Jabberwocky, hoping to find an exit where the creature had just appeared from. She only had a few seconds before the vicious creature got back up but she knew trying to escape was a lot better than staying there and waiting for it to kill her. It was clear enough to her that her meager experience amounted to nothing when it came to close ranged combat with that thing. She simply stood no chance against it. As the pain slowly subsided, her limps began to turn into reckless running as she knocked herself from hedge to hedge in a desperate attempt to get as far away from the Bandersnatch as possible.

Already she could hear the Bandersnatch springing back into action as it galloped to the frightened girl. Its body was already visible as it too also used the hedges as a way of changing direction. Luna turned backwards and flung magic after magic at the Bandersnatch hoping to slow it down or even take it out. The Bandersnatch caught up to Luna and tried to swipe at her head with its claws. Albeit the monster's giant hands, Luna managed to somehow duck in time and slash at its underbelly causing it to moan in pain. Luna walked backwards stumbling and falling over a small clipped hedge in the middle of a big area. Her back seemed to be on something rather uncomfortable and getting up, she saw what it was. A bunch of broken twigs possibly from cutting the hedges lay on the ground as if they were trying to attract Luna's attention to them. Suddenly she had an idea. It was crazy but if it worked it would give her enough time to escape.

"Come here boy," Luna called to the Bandersnatch picking up one of the twigs that lay besides her feet. The Bandersnatch, who looked as if he wasn't even hit, neared her slowly giving her a vicious growl and barking at her wildly, "Fetch!" Luna threw the stick trying to muster as much force as possible. The twig eventually landed quite a ways off near another part of the maze. Whether it was a part Luna had already been to, or one she had yet to explore, she didn't know but she hoped it was the former.

As weak smile spread across her features as the Bandersnatch did exactly what she hoped it would do. It turned around, the hungry look disappearing off its face and it hurried straight for the twig.

"Who knew it would work?" Luna smiled proud of her achievement. She stretched her arm and was about to turned around in order to see a shadow which wasn't hers increasing in size. Luna looked up and then screamed, before diving out of the way to avoid the heavy weight of the Bandersnatch dropping on her.

"Well… that was quick. Uh, good boy?" Luna looked on in astonishment after getting up. She had underestimated how fast the creature was. Really underestimated was more like it. The Bandersnatch still had the twig in his mouth as if waiting for the moment when Luna would put her hand anywhere near its pointy and large jaws. In the end, Luna could only hope that her magic was recharged, as she pointed the Keyblade at the monster's face and uttered "Fire."

* * *

"Look into the mirror and tell me what you see?" The Queen shoved Alice in front of mirror the height of the Queen. Currently Alice, the Queen, Sora and a bunch of card soldiers stood in the courtyard. Neither Sora nor Alice were too excited about conversing with the Queen, that was until Sora and Alice had found out that the Queen had discovered a mirror which fell from the sky along with the rain into the courtroom. Surprisingly it had managed to retain all its pieces except three, and luckily enough Alice had just the pieces that would fit. Whether Alice was willing to divulge this to the Queen however, was another matter entirely. Looking into the mirror, Alice could only see her reflection and nothing else. She assumed if she added the other pieces, it may work again but if it was anything that was of benefit to the Queen, she would snatch it at first chance. Sora also didn't want to attack the Queen for the sake of not having cards chase them throughout the kingdom though knew that as soon as the execution happened he would have to find a way to defend him and Alice. Nevertheless, there was a much more important concern to think about right now. He would have headed back to the maze entrance if not for the face that an axe was being pointed to his head.

"Well, I see myself and you right there," Alice provided the basics by stating the obvious, as that was all she could really see right now. What soon happened was even weirder. On top of the Queen's crown appeared the Cheshire cat, waving his tail from left to right from behind her head, "Ah, and the Cheshire cat, on your head."

"Cheshire cat? What in the world are you blathering on about?" The Queen burrowed her eye brows. This action was soon to be repeated by the Cheshire cat who seemed to be having the time of his life.

"Right there. On top of your head." Alice stated pointing at the Queen's crown. Sora who had been contemplating on a way to rescue Luna for some time looked up to see that Alice was telling the truth. He couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"And what are you laughing about?" The Queen asked nastily touching her crown to find nothing there. As soon as her hands left they were replaced with the cat appearing again.

"She's right you know. You should try looking in a mirror every once in a while. Actually a think I know where those pieces went. Looks like seven years bad luck for you." Sora cracked. He did admit that he secretly enjoyed his wise-cracking antics sometimes. It was fun with Pete and it was just as fun with the Queen.

As anticipated, the Queen's eyes were practically bulging out of her eye sockets. She marched over the Sora and stared him down on the spot as if she were trying to show dominance. Alice took this time to plant the first piece in the mirror.

"Any last words before I send you to the dungeons?" The Queen spat.

Sora nodded, "Yeah. First, Pete can't be trusted. Whatever he promised you, is all lies."

The Queen looked at him for a second before laughing, "Oh, nice try but _I_ have control over the Heartless now. With them, I will take over all of Wonderland."

"He promised you the Heartless? Okay, here's a secret. They align with those who are strongest. Now in Pete's eyes, you're pretty weak. Pete's an idiot but even he knows he can manipulate you in order to get what he wants. Once he has Alice, he's going to betray you and it will be your fault if it happens." Sora wisely informed her. He didn't actually know if Pete would betray her but it was likely given it was Pete. The Queen seemed to mull these words over before standing up straight. By this time, Alice had inserted all pieces and started into the mirror intently.

_Just a while longer._ Sora decided turning back to the Queen, "Oh, and secondly. You might want to look under you." This distraction was already provided for him as the Queen looked down to see the Cheshire cat right under her legs.

"Hello. Quite the view from down here Sora. Might want to join me." The cat rested one of his paws on his head and grinned with charm. The Queen shrieked and ordered the cards to get rid of the cat. Three of the hearts present jumped for her legs, missing the disappearing cat and accidently toppling over the Queen.

Sora jumped out of the way of the rolling Queen and rushed out the exit, letting Alice know he was gone for Luna before he did so. He used strike raid knocking several of the cards down in a domino formation before coming across Pete at the entrance of the maze.

"Pete, you're not even worth my time. Just let me through." Demanded Sora hastily.

"Oh you think I'm not worth your time, eh? Well I might not be, but this fella definitely is. Jabberwocky assemble!" Pete whistled and suddenly the ground shook. A scaly dragon emerged from the trees in the Lotus Forest and encircled Sora from above.

"Really Pete? Fine then, you- HEY!" Sora turned to Pete but found that his had disappeared. Turning back the Jabberwocky, Sora summoned his Keyblade, getting ready to block if necessary.

The Jabberwocky swooped down, screeching as it did so. The loud noise caused Sora to cover his ears in annoyance.

"Well I certainly know who won't be winning a singing contest anytime soon." Sora could barely hear himself as he made his witty remark. Dodge rolling out of the way of the attack, Sora hooked onto the Jabberwocky and flung himself onto the dragon's back. Sora noted that this dragon seemed to be possessed by darkness and eventually came to the conclusion that Pete was the one who manipulated it. It was as with the Beast when Sora had once fought him, where Xaldin had awakened the rage in the Beast's heart in order to turn him into a Heartless. He wasn't sure if the Jabberwocky was a Heartless yet but it seemed near enough to be one.

"Uh- giddy up! WOAH!" Sora was lurched forward as the Jabberwocky ascended to the air once more; however he managed to keep his grip while being flung about. Now if he could control the dragon, he can ride it to Luna's location and rescue. The problem however, was just that. The Jabberwocky pulled off a 360 degree dive sending Sora hanging once more.

"You cannot be serious!" Sora yelled as his feet dragged across the ground from the low altitude. Trying to heave himself back on was a difficult task with the Jabberwocky constantly changing directions ever so often. Sora struck the Jabberwocky with his Keyblade, slowing him down and giving Sora enough time to propel himself back onto the dragon's back.

"What do I have to do to make you listen to me?" Sora didn't know why but he laughed just then. It probably had to do with the experience of flying on a deadly creature which could potentially be the end of him. The Jabberwocky started to shake left and right on the spot as well as spinning around, hoping to possibly throw Sora off, though in the end, it was only making him want to throw up.

"I won't get off. You can't make me." Sora grinned stubbornly as he clutched onto the thin bony sides of the dragon with his legs.

Tweedledee and Tweedledum, who had been observing this sight for a while, looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

"Well, if it can dance, why shouldn't we be able to?" One of them asked.

"Up yours Queen." The other said and took out a cookie from his pocket before biting it. The two of them started to dance while Sora grabbed the Jabberwocky by the horns and pulled upwards. This seemed to grab its attention and it pulled up in accordance.

"Ah, you're weak point is the horns, eh? Well then, time to rescue a friend." Sora grinned at his success. And steered the dragon right to the maze.

* * *

The next few encounters with the Bandersnatch in the maze were cutting it close, and even that would be an understatement. The Bandersnatch attacked once again in another area of the maze but Luna jumped backwards and swung her Keyblade knocking a tooth out of the Bandersnatch's mouth. Luna did not praise her success for she knew even a smile would be allowing the Bandersnatch to seek revenge. Instead, she ran for it not looking back. It was a few more yards and forks until she came to a dead end and then crawled into a ball staring directly in front of her at all times. She had run out of energy, was absolutely exhausted and didn't have the will to continue running like this. She couldn't see much off a way out of this. If she turned miniscule, it may not even stop the creature from hunting her down through scent and getting larger wouldn't give her any manoeuvrability in this maze. It was any moment now and her journey would be over. Her promise to Shiki and Neku about rescuing them from the Reapers' Game wouldn't be kept, nor would she being able to go to see other worlds out there and seeing Sora, Alice and the others again. The scent of the white roses behind her were almost intoxicating enough that Luna could just fall asleep here.

"Wait a minute…" Luna whispered as she turned around. The white roses were the key to getting out alive but she would only be able to do it if she thought it out carefully. She picked a few of the roses and then took one of the other mushrooms in her pocket. Luna took a bite and she immediately shrunk. Just what she wanted. Next she covered the white flower over her and jumped through the bushes. The scent of the flower was stronger than her own, so assuming the scent rubbed off on her, she may be able to escape undetected. The plan also require luck seeing as it would be oddly suspicious for a flower to be moving by itself and she couldn't tell where the Bandersnatch would be from under the coating of protection.

While she had heard the feet of the Bandersnatch, she could tell it was nowhere near where she was currently walking. This was after a while of her conducting her plan which showed it was working. Suddenly, she grew back to her normal height screeching slightly. It was enough to alert the Bandersnatch to where she was. She didn't have time to wonder why she had regrown; she could only briefly assume that the mushrooms had a temporal effect. The Bandersnatch smashed through the hedges and successfully pinned her down. He would have finished her off right then and there if not for familiar sound from above.

"Sora!" She yelled summoning her Keyblade and putting all her energy into one fire spell. A giant ball of fire erupted from her Keyblade, blasting the Bandersnatch off her and giving enough her enough time to stand up.

"Hey Luna! Like my ride?" Sora asked as he lowered the dragon and helped Luna up onto the back.

"You got a dragon? Wait, this thing can fl-Aaagh!" Luna face ran red as the dragon lifted back up into the air over the sunset filled sky. The fog was beginning to clear and Wonderland looked much better, more beautiful.

"You know I don't think I'll get used to this." Luna said causing the two to laugh. She was back to her old cheery self again thank to Sora. It was funny, the effect he had on those around him.

They continued to soar for quite some time until the Jabberwocky descended in the courtyard. Sora and Luna leaped off him and couldn't help but laugh doing so. The Jabberwocky laid down to rest and Luna emptied her pockets of the mushrooms giving them to the creature. Funnily enough, the creature didn't seem to be affected by these mushrooms at all and seemed to find them quite tasty for he dug into more afterwards.

"Next time, warn me when you're about to go into the air?" Luna told Sora who smirked with a foolish grin on his face.

"But if I had told you it would have been less fun." Sora answered. Luna's response was one he didn't expect. She hugged him. As Sora was rather awkward with these things he stayed still while Luna felt like crying her eyes out after her near death experience. She had felt so lonely, so hopeless in the maze and her body ached emotionally as well as physically. She was just glad to have contact with someone after what was an hour in that maze, but seemed more to Luna.

"Sora, Luna. I'm glad you're alright." Alice ran up to the two cheerily and hugged her friends.

"What did you see in the mirror?" Sora enquired now beginning to blush himself.

"Once upon a looking glass, I saw you. I didn't remember you until now and I certainly didn't remember me. This place is real. And I'm a Princess of Heart right?" Alice told him smiling meekly.

Sora grinned at her answer, "It's nice to have you back Alice."

"Oh and guess what. I also saw myself as the Queen of Wonderland. Of course that part could only be in my dreams." Alice laughed and danced around with Tweedledee and Tweedledum who had stepped into the courtyard a while ago. Luna was about to smile at this when she saw the Queen near Alice from out of the corner of her eye. She turned around and saw the Queen glowing with a dark aura surrounding her, and she was holding something her hand, something silver and sharp…

"Alice! Watch out!" Luna yelled as she summoned her Keyblade once more and flung in her direction. Alice caught the Keyblade in time and turned around to see the Queen about to stab her. Alice dodged out of the way and performed a vertical slash striking the Queen. The bigger woman barely let out an audible gasp before she collapsed, her crown flying off in the process. The Cheshire cat appeared to catch it before swinging it onto Alice's head with perfect accuracy.

"Looks like that dream of yours. Wasn't exactly a dream." The Cheshire cat commented before disappearing. The Keyblade soon disappeared from Alice's hands and reappeared back in Luna's who also staggered and fell to the floor, barely being able to stand up.

"Luna!" Sora and Alice shouted and rushed to her aid.

"I'm alright. But, is the Queen…" Luna stopped not really wanting to think about it.

"The Heartless had already devoured her heart." Sora said sighing. Even if he did hate the Queen, he wouldn't have wished that fate upon her.

"Wait. So I'm the Queen of Wonderland?" Alice asked.

"Looks like it, your majesty." Tweedledee approached and bowed to the girl. The remaining cards in the vicinity also followed.

"Huh? No no no. As much as it's tempting, I have a home to get back to. Best you find someone else to rule over. I would be a horrible ruler anyway." Alice replied taking off the crown and passing it to one of the twins.

"How about me? I think I'd be an awesome king." Sora complimented himself while giving Luna support.

"You want to be king Sora? I didn't imagine you the feisty type." Luna told him weakly.

"I was just kidding." Sora laughed though it was clear no one believed his lie.

"Well, you better take Luna out of here Sora. Thank you for helping me." Said Alice, starting to look more of a ten year old than before.

"No problem Alice. Just call when you need us. We're always here to help." Sora replied before starting for the Bizarre Room.

"Oh wait Sora, Luna. I have one more thing to tell you guys. It's about how I lost my memories. I remember now." The look on Alice's face told them that this wouldn't be a normal everyday explanation.

_-Flashback-_

_The heavy raindrops hit against the window as Alice could feel her mind being probed by Dr. Zager, even warped, but she couldn't do a thing. It was clear to her that this was no average doctor. Far from it._

_"Now Alice, remember what I told you. Seeking Wonderland will only cause you pain. It is a dream and nothing more. Forget about it. You've only seen destruction and the fires of anguish." The man said as images of fire and her Wonderland being set ablaze. Her Wonderland?_

_"Doctor, stop. It hurts." Alice cried out but the memories wouldn't stop._

_"Now let's see how far the power of darkness sweeps through a Princess of Heart. You'll forget everything about Wonderland, even meeting Sora, Donald and Goofy. Is that clear?" The man told her._

_"I can't Doctor. I won't." Alice said, but she could already feel her memories being locked away. She wanted to search for the key, the key to unlocking her past, but she couldn't find him anywhere, she couldn't find Sora._

_"And you'll certainly forget about me. Here's a secret. My name isn't Dr. Zager. And I certainly don't expect this to last forever. When he finds you, he'll know who it was from." The man pulled away leaving a blank Alice who could only stare at the man in front of her as every memory of Wonderland disappeared from her mind. She could only barely see the man put on a black coat before she blanked out._

* * *

**Woo! Don't know about you but for me, it took a while to write. But I did have fun writing it and ain't that the point. To put things in perspective, Dr. Zager, is not Dr. Zager and whoever he is seems to know Sora. So it's obvious who it is, especially with the black coat but what does he want with everyone's favourite hero? And what world will Sora and Luna be going to next? Find out on the next exciting chapter of Dual Destinies. Until then please rate and review. **


	19. Hook, Line and Sinker

**After taking a week's break, I am back with a new chapter. Before we visit the new world, there are some loose ends to tie up. Enjoy and R&R.**

* * *

Chapter 19

Hook, Line and Sinker

"It seems like you've failed yet again Pete."

Pete cowered in the corner and Maleficent neared him, the darkest expression on her face. After his failure to retrieve the princess in Wonderland, Pete had tried to avoid Maleficent like the plague, opting to face the consequences later rather than sooner. If the atmosphere of the room was creepy, its effect was only added by Maleficent's silent fury.

"Well I don't think you can entirely blame it on me. That twerp with the Keyblade and a new friend of his got in the way." Pete shivered as it seemed like Maleficent's presence had been largely magnified compared to his own.

"Are you honestly going to continue to make that excuse every time that wretched Keyblade bearer and his lackeys get in the way? The fact of the matter is this. Once we have the seven princesses, we'll be able to find Kingdom Hearts. It was not Sora that led you to leave Wonderland for the comfort of my domain, it was cowardice." Maleficent snarled absolutely seething. Pete knew when to quit in his struggles against Maleficent and attempted no rebuttals.

"Okay, so what do I do?"

"Nothing." Maleficent answered simply and turned away. Pete was left in shock at this. Surely Maleficent wasn't considering abandoning him. He knew they had been through some rough patches but to let him go now when their mission was off the utmost importance?

"Nothing? So you're letting me go? Bu-b-but wait, I mean…" Pete jumped up and slid past Maleficent to stop her from advancing any further, "what about our plan? You can't kick me of the curb when you need all the help you can get to make this plan of yours work." Pete expressed his thoughts.

"That's exactly why I've had enough of your antics. Believe it or not, but you're actually a detriment to my plan. Time after time, the escapades I have sent you on have only ended in failure. I'm starting to regret letting you out of that prison so many years ago." Maleficent could only look on self-loathing as she realised how many of her plans may have actually worked had she chosen someone competent. Instead she had ended up with and idiotic buffoon who could only spell disaster for her upcoming plans. It had been Xehanort who had first alerted her to the power of those seven pure hearts and since then she had played into his plan perfectly. Now he was gone, she would refuse to make the mistakes he did. She sought after a more appetising prize than that of the Keyblade War.

There was a knock on the door and in came a tall and sturdy man in a suit, his brown hair tied back in a ponytail. He looked around the small circular room, seeming to take a positive interest in its aesthetics.

"Uh, who's this guy?" Pete asked hoping for an introduction, instead the man remained silent, "Uh, hello? You clean your ears much?"

"He's your replacement." Maleficent answered smiling. Pete seemed to take a few seconds to register what she had just said before it clicked in his mind.

"Wait? What?! I mean I know I messed up and all, but this guy? He doesn't even look like he knows where he came from." Pete guffawed hoping this was all a joke.

The man soon turned to look at Pete before smiling, "Funny. You see, that's the more of the impression I get from you. Could just be bias however."

Pete silenced himself, his laughter replacing with shock, "Whoa, wait up a sec. How did you get my replacement so soon? I only just came back."

"Somehow, I just knew you'd fail me once again. Call it intuition if you will," Maleficent said sarcastically, "No. He has been tasked with what you failed to do. Consider yourself on probation for now."

"Probation? I-I-" Pete stuttered before getting angry, "I've contributed just as much as anyone else. I was going around and turning folks into Heartless while you were gone. Don't I deserve at least some credit?"

"Hence probation. Your failures have simply far outweighed your successes and someone who can't succeed at least once in a while is as good as worthless. You and our new friend here will journey to collect the Princesses once again starting with the one you just lost." Maleficent ordered. Pete eventually sighed and gave way to defeat. She was giving him a chance even after all his screw ups so she must care about him, Pete decided. He was going to prove to Maleficent that he could do right. He crawled to his knees and started repeating "Thank you!" over and over much to Maleficent's disgust.

The man who was watching the touching display of emotions decided to intrude, "With all due respect Maleficent, I'd rather not work with a creature of his calibre."

"Do not worry. I am giving you direct and complete control over this operation. I also need you to do one more thing. While on your journey through the worlds, you may come across a man in a black coat. I need you to find him and bring him to me if you can." Maleficent told him.

"That can be done," The man turned back to Pete, "well I suppose he'll be useful for a few laughs along the way. I'm David Xanatos. We'll leave when you're ready." Xanatos patted the big cat on his shoulder before walking back out of the room.

Pete growled. He could already tell he was not going to get along with this Xanatos character. At all.

* * *

Luna's face attached to the console of the Highwind as she struggled to get some sleep. The previous night had not been kind to her, to say the least. It had been a day since Sora and Luna had left Wonderland and she found herself still recovering from overuse of energy as well as the traumatic encounter with the Bandersnatch who had been so close to sinking its teeth into her head. Her dream last night had not made anything easier, with her running from the Bandersnatch. In a way, the dream kind of resembled her dream when she had been running from the rhino along with other girl, who Luna just only remembered her name to be Astra. Even so, in this dream, she was alone and no matter how far she tried to run, there never seemed to be an exit in sight.

She had awoken from the nightmare only to question her reason for journeying. Was she still ready for this? Judging by her poor display in the maze, she could only conclude that she wasn't, and yet she also knew it wasn't her fault in the first place. She was completely inexperienced with the Keyblade, only knowing a few magic spells and defensive techniques which were enough to keep her alive, and they did, the only problem was there were several instances that were too close to call.

It had amazed her at how everything seemed so right at one point in Wonderland. She had been on top of the world and felt as if she could have done anything. She knocked out Pete, protected Alice and helped to find her memories, found Sora. But then it went downhill when they arrived at the courts. Granted there was not much they could have done in the situation but she still couldn't help but feel the sense of hopelessness wash over. That she had the Keyblade, yet did not know how to use it to its full potential.

_But I do want to continue journeying. _Luna argued with her other side over her right to wield the Keyblade. If Luna realised one thing from her adventures in Wonderland, it was that the Keyblade was not a pathway to adventure but rather an obligation to protect the worlds. She truly doubted that the worst was behind her, but to be prepared would mean focusing on her weaknesses and turning them into strengths.

_But do I really want to be that close to death again? This time was lucky, the next… _Luna pulled out the journal that she had drawn in before with her new friends in it from Max's rucksack and flipped to an empty page. She drew herself along with Alice and Sora falling down a rabbit hole while shards of glass (or in this case equilateral squares) fell along with them. Looking at these shards, she immediately remembered the look the Cheshire cat had given her when she had been hiding with Alice. The cat had somehow known which surprisingly didn't seem impossible to Luna considering the cat was of the strangest nature.

Sora soon walked into the room before sitting down next to Luna and looking out at the seamless blue that surrounded the ship.

"How are you feeling?" Sora eventually said, still not looking directly at Luna. Luna deduced that he apparently had something on his mind.

"I'm just re-evaluating certain things." Luna chose to answer truthfully, while in the meanwhile placing the journal away before Sora could notice it was there. She had decided on not showing him her drawings until she had done a sufficient amount.

"Right…" Sora turned to Luna, "Look. I'm not surprised if you want to quit on this journey. I mean, it will be dangerous but it's also kind of fun. Still, I don't want to risk losing you or anyone else so I understand if you want to stop."

"What good will that do Sora? I need to find my home world." Luna knew she couldn't quit now, and as Sora said, the good times would probably end up outweighing the bad.

"Well if you want, you can return to Radiant Garden and allow me to find your world for you. Then I'll bring you there." Sora suggested though he already knew Luna's answer to this.

Luna's expression was that of shock, "I couldn't. Thanks but leaving you alone? That's the worst idea I've ever heard."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora asked playfully.

"You know full well what I mean. Do I need to spell out what happened again for you?" Luna grinned before spelling out Pete's name with her index finger.

"Oh come on. That was only once. I won't make that mistake again." Sora defended beginning to wonder if she was ever going to let that go. Off all her memories, it seemed that that would be her most memorable. Jokingly enough, if Sora had to pick one memory for Luna to forget in return for her old ones, he would pick that one.

"Sure Sora. And you can guarantee that? Face it, you're stuck with me partner. We are going to see the worlds together and I will fight however many Heartless stand in my way but… if I'm going to do that, I'll need all the training I can get." Luna asserted her stance on the matter, now positive in what she wanted. It would be no use to doubt herself now and as long as she had the Keyblade, she had to make some contribution in protecting the worlds.

"I agree. Training… AHA!" Sora sprang up from his seat hastily almost causing Luna to fall off her own, "I think I know just the place. It's a coliseum; very big and open and perfect for you to train in, well that is if Phil lets us which I'm sure he will."

"Phil? Coliseum?" Whatever Sora was talking about sounded good to her if it helped with her training. Sora got back into his chair and looked at the visual map on the monitor.

"Even better. Looks like two stops before we get there. First one, I never been to so there's probably a keyhole there. The other one I recognise though. It should also have a keyhole. So… are you interested?" Sora smirked.

Luna beamed eagerly, "Oh you so know I am interested," And yet, she could not still the worries that plagued her heart, "and maybe I'll get my memories back… maybe."

"That's no way to act Luna. Alice believed and that was enough to get her memories back. I'll tell you what, come here," Sora got out of his seat and motioned for Luna to sit on it. He then pointed to the monitor in front of him, "Pick a star. Any star. Oh, you can go as far as you want."

Luna looked at Sora questioningly before deciding to comply with his wishes. The monitor was thankfully touchscreen making the process a lot quicker, however it still did not help in terms of choosing a star. _But there are so many stars out there, how do I choose which one? _Luna found herself asking as she shifted the interactive map on the screen to the left with her finger. They all looked appetising, none of them looking so different from one another especially on a map.

"This one." She eventually decided settling on a star as far as possible from their current destination.

"Ooh, nice choice. I quite like that world." Sora commented.

"You've been there?" Luna asked.

"No." Sora said simply. There was a slight pause until laughter erupted from the two and filled the room. After a few second it died down and Sora continued on with what he was saying, "But I can't wait until we do get to that world. In the meantime, I promise that by the time you see that star up close, you'll have all your memories back."

Luna could feel some of her previous thoughts dissipating. It was a pretty big promise to make after all but one Luna just couldn't help but feel excited about. The way Sora had said it made it seem even more important to him than her.

"Okay then, how about we make my choice a little closer then?" Luna joked sliding the map back all the way to their destination to select the world right next to them.

"Uh yeeeaaah... I don't think we want to do that now do we? I want to keep at least some of my sanity intact by the time we finish finding them." Chortled Sora.

Luna chuckled along with him, "But are you absolutely sure you can find my memories? It's not like their physical with Alice. I'll have to recover them on my own."

Sora shook his head lightly, "You're never going to be alone Luna. We'll do this together. All for one and one for all."

"All for one, and one for all," Luna repeated smiling at the words, "Sounds catchy. You're right Sora. We can do this as long as we stick together." Her passion for adventures seemed to have reignited at an all-time high. She realised it wasn't so much the Bandersnatch she had feared while in the maze, but the idea of death itself. Now she had identified the problem, all she really needed to do was keep herself alive and to do that she would have to keep fighting at whatever the cost.

"Now back to what I was thinking about. You remember as we were about to leave Wonderland?" Sora's face became more focused as he looked at Luna, "Alice said that the person who had manipulated her memory claimed himself to be a fake. So for the whole time, I was trying to figure out who he was. And the black coat and the fact that the guy said "he'll know who it was from" or something along those lines tells me it was the same guy who attacked the islands."

"And unleashed that Heartless at Traverse Town," Luna nodded, she admitted she hadn't really had too much time to think about what Alice had said for she had been too involved in her own grieving and trying to recover energy, "But wait. How does he know you? And does this mean he has some power of locking away memories or something?"

"He couldn't. Could he?" Sora looked down in thought. The only one he knew who could manipulate memories was Namine and she wasn't connected to him anymore so she had lost that power after gaining a physical body. But the possibility of another person like her… "Even then, why would he bother with manipulating Alice's memory? If he wanted to get to me then he could have just kidnapped her or after manipulating her memory, he could follow her around in Wonderland until she met me." Sora reasoned.

"Also he would have to have known that you would go to Wonderland in the first place. Why exactly do you think he's after you?" Luna asked agreeing with Sora that this man's intentions were not very clear, to say the least.

"I have no idea. I just have a feeling from the way Alice talked about the expression on his face when he heard about me from her. Not to mention he was at my islands and he opened a corridor of darkness and left it open, I think intentionally, so he must have wanted me to follow him. But why? Why did he go to Traverse Town?" Sora asked and once again, another silence filled the room.

"Ooohhh. Forget it right now, my head hurts. Let's just get to the next world." Luna suddenly felt as if she were about to close her eyes out from all the thinking.

"Hey! That's what I was about to say." Sora moaned playfully receiving a playful push for Luna.

"Okay then. Say it." Luna smirked as Sora got into the middle seat.

"Forget it right now, my head hurts. Let's just get to the next world." Sora echoed in a monotonous and dull tone.

"Oh, you are no fun sometimes." Luna laughed heartily as Sora engaged the manual drive and took full control of the ship once more.

* * *

It had been only a few hours since Sora and Luna's talk and they were closely nearing on the next world. Luna could not hide her anticipation as she constantly wandered what would be awaiting them at this world. Along the journey, Sora had promised her that she would learn thunder and cure once they had touched ground. Jiminy had woken up only a few minutes after this and finished up his journal entry for Wonderland, with Sora and Luna helping to fill in the missing details. Their first journey had been quite the eventful and colourful one, they all found as they had enough information to fill out five pages.

Suddenly the ship rocked violently and Sora's head hit the console panel while Luna fell from where she was standing and ending up accidently falling on Jiminy as a result.

"Sorry Jiminy." Luna groaned as she got up from the ground and peeled the squeezed cricket from the floor.

"It's okay." Jiminy could only just answer dizzily. He was not the only one in a tipsy state as Sora found it hard to even focus on what was in front of him. Shaking his head his eyes became more focused and he finally was able to see clearly what was attacking the Highwind.

"You've got to be kidding me. Hook?"

On the other ship, Captain Hook sneered as he stared right back at the Highwind, "Lookie here Smee. If it isn't the Keyblade wielder and his sad sacks of potatoes. Take them out!"

"Aye aye captain!" Smee rushed off in a hurry before ordering the Heartless present on the ship to man the cannons, "Fire!" Smee called out loud.

Several cannonballs shot out at once aiming for the Highwind. Sora pulled away from them quickly as he edged closer. Luna assumed the position of using the Gummi artillery like before at her disposal. Fire shot emerged from both sides as Sora and Hook decided to play cat and mouse with each other with Hook trying to circle around Sora however the latter kept his distance.

"Speed upgrades are great, aren't they?" Sora said to himself proud of Chip and Dale's work as he was able to easily dodge the blasts. He knew though that in order to get and effective shot at Hook's ship he would have to move closer. In the meantime Heartless deployed several smaller Heartless ships from Hook's, heading straight towards the Highwind.

"You need to pull in a bit closer Sora." Luna stated Sora's thoughts while taking out a few of the Heartless with the Fire-G (or Gummi) weaponry.

"Yeah… one step ahead of you on that one." Sora said moving the ship in closer so Luna could take a few of the Heartless ships out. The cannon fire from Hook's ship was quite relentless and the hooked-handed pirate seemed to have the notion that things were going his way.

The Highwind rolled through two ships in a breeze with Luna taking them out with Thunder blasts to make sure that they didn't follow from behind. Sora increased the speed of the Highwind as he headed directly for Captain Hook's ship. All the cannon fire either sailed past or briefly hit the ship however due to its powerful armour; it took each hit as if it were nothing. Luna opened rapid fire on the ship targeting the deck in particular. As the shots rang out from above, Hook cowered underneath his table, finally coming to a realisation that he couldn't take out the Highwind, at least not right now.

"Retreat!" Hook yelled covering his ears, or at least successfully managing to cover one of them. The cannons stopped in their assault and Hook's ship turned around and flew off leaving a gleaming Sora and Luna.

"Well looks like we handled that efficiently. Wonder what he was doing here though? Just waiting to ambush us?" Sora asked. He considered later gloating to Donald when he met up with him and Goofy again how he tactically defeated Hook with expertise. Luna however didn't exactly consider it so.

"Did you plan to sail through those canons?" She asked not sure how Sora had known the Gummi would be able to take that much damage and still fly.

"It was a risk but I had faith in Chip and Dale." In fact, Sora hadn't even been thinking of Chip and Dale until the ship had been hit several times and managed to come out all right. He hadn't been thinking about much at all really.

Luna believed his cover story before looking in front of her, "Oh, there's the next world coming up!"

"Uh huh. Oh right!" Suddenly Sora remembered something, "I didn't finish that story about the raft. Remember in Wonderland where you asked me about myself?"

"Sora, you do realise that was quite a while ago? Still… I suppose I could spare some time for those baby pictures you were going to show me." Luna cooed.

"What are you talking? I already told you it was nothing like that." Sora shot back before starting his story again of him, Riku and Kairi wanting to get off the Destiny Islands.

* * *

Sora and Luna teleported from the Gummi Ship down to the new world after Sora' tale of the raft. Luna had found it rather silly of Sora, Riku and Kairi to just leave with barely any preparation but who was she to complain? She probably would have done the same herself.

"So where are we now exactly?" Luna asked. They seemed to be essentially in the middle of the road, with grassy fields surrounding them and possibly the most interesting feature of the area. A giant estate, which seemed to strike Sora as nostalgic for whatever reason. Where had he seen that house before?

"Oh! No way!" Sora yelled and jumped in excitement. Luna looked at the ecstatic boy in wonder. Sora's eyes seemed to light up and the smile on his face was big and wide.

"Do you know this place?" Luna looked between Sora and the house. The house was rather big and had a grand feeling to it, seeming to glisten and stand out against the natural country fields and blue sky.

"I've seen it before. Not here but in Traverse Town." Sora ran up the hills with Luna following closely behind. Once at the door he knocked on it, hoping that they would still be there. All one hundred and one of them. The door soon opened and Sora's smile grew even bigger if it were possible. A slender young man with blonde hair stood in curiosity and beside him was one of the taller Dalmatians, who Sora identified as Pongo. It seemed as if the Dalmatians had luckily found their way back to their owners after their world had been lost.

Sora bent down and patted Pongo on his head, "Hey boy, how are you doing?" The dog smiled and nuzzled back into Sora's hands.

* * *

**So the next world is the 101 Dalmatians world which I'm entitling "Estate of the Dalmatians". This was tricky seeing as there are already 99 puppies in KH1 so while Roger and Anita have gotten the estate after the movie, the events before it haven't really taken place yet. Meaning... guess who's the main villain here? **

**Also Xanatos! Weirdly enough Maleficent felt the need to give Pete one more chance. She's just too soft sometimes. Even she hates it. **


	20. Estate of the Dalmatians

**Finally able to finish this chapter in time after days of not being able to work on this. It turns out that writing this world was a lot harder than I thought. For one, the dalmatians don't talk to humans so the only type of connection Sora and Luna have is Roger and Anita. Anyway, have fun reading this chapter :)**

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Chapter 20

Estate of the Dalmatians

The Dalmatians house was rather large, that is to say, as large as a mansion itself. While not as many rooms as the mansion in Twilight Town, there were quite a few similarities that struck chords of nostalgia to Sora, specifically a room with a grand piano present. In this room, apart from at least twenty puppies that were currently residing there, was shelves stacked with books of many topics which also seemed to fairly remind Sora of not just Twilight Town, but Disney Castle as well though not as beautifully designed, which was fine as Sora did expect the two owners of the estate, Roger and Anita, to be a rich as Mickey and Minnie, though it was clear they were certainly doing well from the fact that they were able to own such a house in the first place. The next room was the living room, a rather normal looking room with a television set, a sofa and chair to the side which was the so called knitting chair the other human resident of the house, Nanny who sometimes knitted sweaters for the Dalmatians depending on the occasion.

The room following the living room was the dining room, again rather simple yet elegant with a long rectangular table in the middle and a nice fireplace and that was all they needed. The last room on the lower level of the house was the Dalmatians playhouse where the majority of Dalmatians resided. They welcomed Sora with joy and gratitude after seeming to remember him helping them out a year ago. This room was where the Dalmatians would play with toys scattered around the room, eat their food, sleep and there was also another television in this room which was currently switched on and had one of the puppies watching it currently. Also included downstairs in the hallway (which you would come across as soon as you entered the house) was the kitchen and the stairs leading to the upper level. Generally upstairs was the bathroom and two bedrooms, one for Roger and Anita and the other for Nanny.

"So how do you know Pongo and everyone else?" Roger, a musical man in every sense of the word, as Sora and Luna had found out quizzed while he ruffled Pongo's fur.

"It's a long story…" Sora was not entirely sure of what to say in this instance. He couldn't reveal the existence of other worlds and he could think of no cover story.

"I haven't met them. So this one is Pongo and the other is Perdita?" Luna tried to remember the names of the two by confirming what Roger had said previously about their names before.

"Yup. I'm very proud of Pongo, he and Perdita gave birth to fifteen puppies. What a joyous day it was. We nearly thought one had passed away." Roger explained.

"Fifteen? What about the others?" Sora asked.

"They were found by Pongo and Perdita while they were out on a walk. They appeared to be abandoned and we of course were happy to take them in as our own. I would tell you all their names but we'd be here all day." Roger laughed as Anita, a slender woman with orange hair and fair skin, came down from the bedroom dressed in a periwinkle blue dress and matching hat.

Luna realising what was happening cooed, "Oh, you're going out. I hope we didn't intrude on your date."

Anita blushed before smiling and shaking her head, "Oh, it's quite alright. Roger and I were about to go to the theatre in London and leave Nanny in charge of the puppies, but you can also stay if you'd like."

"We'd love to!" Sora spoke on behalf of himself and Luna and the latter beamed pleasantly.

"Wonderful! When we come back, we can also have dinner if you're willing to stick around?" Roger suggested grabbing his coat off the stand in the hallway.

"I have a feeling we'll be around for a while so why not." Sora smiled. It would take a while to find the Keyhole and in the meantime, Luna would probably want to train.

"Wonderful. Catch you later. Nanny, we're off! Look after our guests will you?" Roger shouted to upstairs.

"Have fun!" A call was heard from above. Anita and Roger waved goodbye and with that they exited out of the house and down the hill. Luna took one last look at the couple before closing the door behind them.

"Let's play with them Sora." Luna took off excitedly leaving Sora by himself in the hallway.

"I was going to say that first." Sora moaned to himself before tailing behind while slouching. While their destination was the Dalmatians playroom, their first stop was the Piano room, in which both were fascinated by the musical instrument in question as well as the violin resting besides it.

"Let's give this a try shall we?" Luna, who seemed very bubbly at the moment, suggested. She hopped on to the stool in front of the piano and looked over the musical notes.

"Uh, are you sure you want to do that? Do you even know how to play a piano?" Sora wasn't entirely sure this was a good idea.

"I'm sure I do. I don't remember it but… look, I won't break anything okay?" Luna told him as she flipped through the musical notes. She had no idea how to perform any of these but at least it would be fun to try and figure things out.

Sora laughed, "So you're using your memory as an excuse now? Well if you insist ma'am. It could be worse. At least it's not the violin."

"Oh shove it Sora." Regardless of her mock anger, Luna could not help but let out a giggle. She flexed her finger muscles before pressing random keys.

"Ah, music to my ears." Sora joked as he heard the random off tune notes produced by Luna's playing. Luna ignored him and slid her hand across the keys from left to right.

"Hey this is pretty fun; I can get the hang of- Oops," Luna cut herself off and removed her hand. One of the white keys near the middle had been pushed in deeper than the rest and was stuck, "I'm so screwed!"

Sora tutted in disapproval, "Well that was quick. Don't worry, I'll cover for you and say I did it instead."

"I couldn't have you do that Sora. It's my fault. Guess I just got a bit too excited huh?" Said Luna while trying to pull the key back up. Her attempts soon saw failure as she found she couldn't apply enough force to push the Key back up from the bottom, "Looks like all it needs is enough force to push it back up."

"Oh, I'm sure we can find something around here for that," Sora said looking around for anything that might help, "but for now… Dalmatians?"

Luna stopped what she was doing and beamed at Sora, "Dalmatians." She confirmed as the two exited the room.

* * *

The Dalmatians were a delight to be around with as Sora and Luna played with them for quite some time. They all seemed quite ecstatic to meet the two, which is except for the one of them who continuously stared at the television. On closer inspection of the puppy's dog tag they found out his name was 'Lucky'.

"Come on little fella'. Don't want to join in on the fun?" Luna picked up Lucky who still seemed more interested in the screen in front of him than the person holding him. Meanwhile Sora was paying attention to what was a more obese puppy compared to the rest. This was 'Rolly' who Sora noted to have a rather large appetite as he always attended to his food bowl when Sora and Luna weren't looking at him. His rather large appetite resulted in him being a bit slow on his feet though he was still as excited to meet Sora and Luna as the others bar Lucky. Pongo and Perdita were in the corner of the room watching the kids play with Sora and Luna while one of the puppies was resting in front of Pongo. That one had been one of the first Dalmatians Sora and Luna had met named 'Penny' who seemed rather attached to her parents compared to the rest.

Overall, Sora and Luna could say they had learned something in that tending to 99 puppies was harder than they thought it would be. There were so many different personalities and variables which affected each of them and Sora and Luna could just not surmise how Pongo and Perdita were able to take care of all of them. 15 were enough but 99?

"They care deeply about one another. It's like a whole community in a way. We had to move when we took in the other 84 puppies. Roger built up enough money through his songs that we could move and… well, look where we are now?" Nanny told them, after coming down from her tending to the tidiness of the bedrooms, came down to inspect up on Sora and Luna.

"A big community, where they help each other out. That's amazing." Luna complimented now tending to Penny who had woken up from her nap just a while ago before Nanny came down.

"Well, obviously the puppies need a bit of help, but they're working to look after themselves. But a few of the lazy ones, you have to look out for," Nanny laughed before pointing at one of them, "I'm sure you've met Lucky. Always staring at the television and sometimes you have to tell him straight. I can't imagine how hard it is for the parents."

"Why is he called Lucky anyway?" Sora asked.

"Ah, I heard Roger tell you this from upstairs but one of the puppies almost died when 'Perdy' was giving birth. Though Roger used a towel to try and bring him back and well the rest as they say, is history." Explained Nanny.

"Aw, he really is lucky." Luna smiled at the screen staring puppy before turning her attention back to Penny.

"By the way, do you know where a toolbox is or something?" Sora asked remembering about the broken key on the piano.

"Of course dear, it's in the cupboard. Why do you ask?" The older woman asked in a suspicious tone.

Sora laughed nervously, "Oh, no reason. Just trying to fix… our ride!"

"Ride?" It was clear that Nanny didn't believe any of this but Sora or Luna for that matter wanted to say that they had ruined Roger's piano.

"Yeah, that's how we came here in the first place. It's called the Gumm-" Sora covered Luna's mouth quickly before she could give away their transport for travelling. The chances of Nanny even recognising the name was next to none but at the same time it was still best for no one else to know.

"The Gumm-achoo!" Luna realised her mistake and took Sora's hand of her mouth before pretending to sneeze, "Oh sorry about that. Thanks for that Sora but I'm fine now. Uh, yeah I meant the nice car we used to get here called the Gummiwind."

"Gummiwind? Never heard of that model before." Nanny scratched her head.

"Yeah, brand new model. We were lucky to grab one." Sora lied giving a toothy grin, "So about that toolbox."

Nanny seemed apprehensive about Sora's tale before remembering, "Oh I see. The Key on the Piano is stuck right?"

Sora and Luna looked at each other for a second before turning back, "WHAT? HOW DID YOU KNOW?" They said in unison.

"Ah so you are. Don't worry, were you afraid I'd tell on you? It's okay really. That key always gets stuck for some reason. It's happened to Roger many times. All it needs is a good push upwards." Nanny chuckled and scurried over to the cupboard in the next room with Sora and Luna following behind. She pulled out a fairly long wooden chisel and a hammer and handed it to Sora, "Now be careful with that dear. I need to finish the dinner and then we can all start when Roger and Anita have returned."

Sora thanked his benefactor before he and Luna headed off into the Piano room. Sora stared at the two instruments in his hand as if they were alien objects. He knew what to do with the hammer, but why did she give him the chisel?

"Uh, you do know what you're doing, right Sora?" Luna questioned wondering about her friend's apprehensive state. Either way, it wasn't like she could complain, she had an idea of what they had to do but she wasn't one hundred percent sure.

"Of course. I just need to put this under the edge of this thing here and…" Sora slid the chisel upwards so that it hit the bottom of the stuck key and then with his remaining hand swung the hammer upwards with enough force but making sure he didn't hit his hand in the process.

"There we go. Piece of cake." Sora proclaimed after successfully knocking the key back into its rightful position.

"Just admit you had no idea what you were doing and you just guessed." Luna snickered at Sora's naivety in handling the task.

Sora seemed to consider this for a second, "Hmm…How about no." With that Sora wandered off back into the Dining Room to put the hammer and chisel back into the toolbox.

* * *

About an hour later, Roger and Anita returned home with bags in their hands. After graciously helping them with their bags into the kitchen, Sora and Luna were told to sit at the dinner table.

"You sure you don't need any more help?" Sora asked the two who seemed to have a pleasant grin on their faces, at least much more of a grin than when Sora and Luna had first come across them.

"Oh it's quite alright Sora. You two have done enough, just sit down and we'll be with you shortly." Roger replied before starting to unpack with Anita. Sora and Luna decided to oblige by Roger's wishes and sit at the dining room table.

"A nice meal and a whole bunch of Dalmatians scattered in the next room. What more can you ask for?" Luna beamed. She hadn't really had a proper meal since Radiant Garden and the only supplies of food the Highwind had was of bread, jam, butter, water and a few other essential yet lacking things. If she and Sora could have their way, they would renovate the ship up to down, probably adding a kitchen somewhere and some decorations just to make it seem more homely. Yet, at the end of the day it was Chip and Dale who had the final say and they had chosen not to include the more interesting aspects of home life. This was of course due to the ship's size and limited capacity to hold things however decorations weren't entirely out of the question. Luna had never really thought about it up until now but the Highwind was basically her home now as well as Sora's. They were pretty much living in the great vast sea of the skies with the occasional temporary residence in the worlds they travelled to, so in her mind it only made sense to give the ship a livelier look. Still, that discussion could wait until Sora and Luna returned to Radiant Garden which they were planning to do after they visited the world Sora had decided would be good for Luna's training.

"This is gonna be _good_." Sora rubbed his stomach and started a few stretches with his arms.

"Gee Sora, could you clamour down just a bit? You're making me sick!" Jiminy shouted from within Sora's hood.

"Oh sorry Jiminy. Just can't wait to see what they have in store." A giddy Sora answered.

It did not take long for him to find out for Roger and Anita soon came to sit at the table, placing plates down as they did so. Nanny soon emerged from the kitchen carrying the main dish and placed it on the table. It seemed that the meal was turkey and potatoes with salad. For whatever reason, the image of the turkey in turn conjured up a brief flash of Donald in Sora's mind and he had no idea why.

_Strange, why did I just picture Donald? _Sora thought with a look of utter bemusement on his face. He would have questioned it further if not for the fact that he was too hungry to care, and so he dug in. Luna felt quite embarrassed from Sora's shameful display of mannerism over the table and felt the need to apologise herself repeatedly.

"Oh don't worry. Growing boys do need their food after all." Anita remarked as Sora stopped at the sound of Luna's apologies, seeming quite embarrassed himself. After hearing Anita's comment, he began to eat more slowly actually putting the fork and knife to good use this time.

A ring was soon heard from the bell at the door, "I wonder who's ringing at this time." Anita pondered glancing at Roger for a second before heading to the door. Anita didn't even have to open the door wide for the next moment, her friend barged in past Anita decked out in a white fur coat and a skin tight black dress underneath. Her hair was half black and half white and she had the most egotistical grin on her face. If she was trying to act of a kind and charming disposition, she certainly failed in all aspects.

"Oh Anita darling, how has it been?" The woman regardless of her question seemed more intent on searching for something else other than Anita.

"Cruella? What a surprise! I didn't expect you to come, especially not at this time of all times." Anita responded sliding past the foul green cigarette smoke trail which followed in Cruella De Vil's wake.

"Oh Anita. Do you find me so repugnant as to want to never see my face every once in a while?" Cruella simpered as she turned to look into the eyes of her friend for the first time since coming in.

"Uh- what? I mean- no- o-of course no-"

"Oh, I was just kidding dear. It would of course be impossible to find me anything but beautiful." Cruella turned back heading towards the piano room, with Anita having to duck in time to avoid contract with her cigarette.

Sora, Luna, Roger and Nanny who were watching quietly from behind the dining room door made to quickly head back to their seats. They made it just in time as Cruella marched in with a rather submissive Anita following behind.

"Ah Roger, we meet again. I honestly do not know why you decided to marry this sloth. He's completely useless dear. You can't continue to live off musical notes forever. The only notes I need are my riches." Cruella made to clutch her fur coat and Sora had to continue eating to stop himself from snorting. Luna found herself absolutely disgusted by this woman; in fact she could sense a bad vibe coming from her and it wasn't that hard to see why.

"Well we're doing fine so far, aren't we? A big house and decent income. Want to eat your own words Cruella?" Roger grinned mischievously.

"Oh, um… another fur coat Cruella?" Anita asked trying to stop an all-out war of words from occurring between her husband and friend.

Cruella growled before turning back to Anita, "Ah, I'm glad you noticed. Yes, the 28th and a 29th to come. Now, where are those lovely puppies you were talking about over the phone?"

Just as she said this, Pongo and Perdita barged through the Dalmatian playhouse and started to bark furiously at the woman.

"Pongo, Perdy? What's wrong?" Anita tried to calm them down but to no avail.

"Something tells me that they really like her." Sora said sarcastically though apparently Cruella seemed to take this as the truth from within a second she went from shock back to her creepy smile.

"Of course. Oh you lovely pets with your lovely white coats and lovely black spots. Isn't it just… lovely?!" Cruella laughed and danced to the door leading to the Dalmatians playroom where she laid her eyes on all 99 puppies, perfect for her next coat.

"I think you should be leaving now Cruella. There's simply no more need for you to stay here." Roger stood up from the table and closed the door in front of her concealing her view of her future prize.

"How much?" Cruella asked quickly pulling out a cheque book from her pocket. This question seemed to astound the entire room.

"Sorry?" Roger asked unsure if he heard the question correctly. Then again, he was pretty sure he had heard it correctly. It was Cruella De Vil after all.

"For the puppies? How much for all of them?" Cruella repeated, a pen now in one hand slowly advancing towards the paper in her other hand.

"They're not for sale. Looks like you're out of luck." Luna shouted getting from her seat and running to the door to block Cruella's path as well. An uneasy silence fell across the room once more and Luna could have sworn she had heard a pin drop, or maybe she had imagined it in order to ease the silence. Still Luna held her ground, she wasn't about to back out now, no matter how scary the woman seemed now with her eyes looking like daggers pointing straight at Luna. All Luna could do was show her the same stare back hoping to fend the vile demon off her case.

"Yes, what Luna said, Cruella. The puppies are absolutely not for sale. Not a single one." Roger backed Luna exchanging smiles with her. Pongo and Perdita looked on in victory as Cruella was seen to be showing some kind of torture on her face at the moment.

"Hmph. Very well then, I need to be going somewhere soon anyway. I'll be back soon enough with a new proposition. Until next time, ta-ta Anita. _Roger_." She put an emphasis on his name as if it were a disgusting and illegal word. Not wanting everyone to see her frustration (which they quite clearly already did) she put on the biggest smile possible and twirled out of the house.

Sora waited until she was quite a distance away before saying, "No one's asking you to come back you witch."

"What was her name again? Cruella? How could she just come in here and ask for the puppies like that? What a cruel woman." Luna uttered her thoughts bitterly.

"Well she is Cruella De Vil. Cruella De Vil… Aha! I think I got the perfect song:

_Cruella De Vil__  
__Cruella De Vil__  
__If she doesn't scare you__  
__No evil thing will__  
__To see her is to__  
__Take a sudden chill__  
__Cruella, Cruella De Vil-_"_  
_Roger paused and started snapping his fingers and tapping his feet at the rhythm in his head, "I have got to write this down. This is absolutely brilliant!"

"Seems good to me. Exactly what I thought when I saw her." Luna commented now in a state of joy at hearing the song. Sora agreed and also told Roger it would be hilarious if he decided to play it the next time Cruella was here.

"Oh Roger, you idiot." Anita shook her head but at the same time she could also not help but laugh, especially when Roger buried his head into her neck.

"I think she ruined my appetite." Luna looked towards Sora uneasily.

"Not for me. I could still eat a moogle or two." Sora turned around and walked back into the house.

"Wait, what? I don't think they'd appreciate you saying that Sora." Luna said following him back in.

Roger took his head from Anita's shoulder and looked between Nanny and Anita in confusion, "What's a moogle?"

* * *

Cruella slammed the door of her black and white car shut and yelled in frustration.

"You okay boss?" Her chauffeur asked looking through the rear-view mirror.

"DO I LOOK OKAY? DRIVE YOU SIMPLETON!" Cruella roared. Her Chauffeur did not need to be told twice as he stepped on the gas and drove off. She was absolutely seething. Absolutely livid. So much so in fact that darkness was beginning to glow from her body. She would not allow herself to be messed with by Anita and her slimy husband. She would get those puppies no matter what even if it meant having to kidnap them first. Still, that could be left for later, they still could be reasoned with and money hadn't failed her before. But if the worst did come to pass, she already had in mind the perfect thieves which could aid her in her plan to kidnap the puppies.

* * *

**So chapter 20 done and Cruella is starting to show signs of being possessed by darkness. A quick preview: Sora and Luna play Hide and Seek with the Dalmatians in the park (which is funny because there's 99 OF THEM) and Luna continues her training with magic. Until then, please R&R. Thanks for reading again, you're all wonderful :)**


	21. A Place to Hide

**So another chapter uploaded of Dual Destinies and since exams are coming up soon, I may not have as much time to spend on this, though really all depends on how I manage my time, unfortunately for me it means cutting down on the video games until the exam :( Anyway, enjoy the chapter and please keep reviewing. All criticism is greatly appreciated, thanks for reading. **

* * *

Chapter 21

A Place to Hide

A shot of fire was deflected back by Kairi's Keyblade as she dodged and blocked the spells aimed at her by Riku and Palom. She was more dedicated now than ever to complete her training so she could join Sora and Riku on the field in earnest. Her past ventures had seen her captured or unable to do anything and her first chance had come from protecting the princesses of heart from Xehanort. And yet, that wasn't enough. She felt as if she were advancing slowly in comparison to the two boys that she had come to know and love ever since they had first met at the her foster father, the mayor's house. It seemed so long ago that she had told Sora to never change and yet here they were, and while he had not changed so much in personality and maturity, he had in understanding and ability. He and Riku possessed this power that she also desired which was the power to protect the things which mattered to her, her friends. Yet, every time she looked at them she sensed she was falling behind, that they were leaving her in their advancement. They were already Keyblade Masters and had been on two journeys with a third well on the way by the time she had started training and Kairi wasn't about to let herself fall behind again.

"You're doing pretty well, for an amateur that is. You sure you haven't done this before?" Palom enquired casting a blizzara spell at Kairi. Porom, the white mage, was situated somewhere behind Kairi so that whenever she was hit, Porom could help her out with a cure spell.

Kairi cast reflect to knock the multiple blizzara spells homing in on her from Palom and Riku. She quickly dodged from left to right the thunder spells about to rain down from above and smacked a blizzara spell with her Keyblade back at the caster, who was Riku. Riku put up his Dark Shield to knock the spell back and Kairi used Fira to dissolve the chunks of ice hurtling back towards her.

"Great Kairi, you're doing much better now. Should we call it a day?" Riku asked.

Kairi shook her head, "No, I'm fine. I can go on."

Riku's concern was clearly etched upon his features. While he knew about Kairi's attempts to train herself to fight alongside him and Sora, there was still the problem of her overdoing it. It had been the same situation back on the islands where Sora and him had neglected to train her instead choosing to relax. Her constant pleadings were what made him consider training her but if her health deteriorated while doing so, she wouldn't be able to get her wish.

"Kairi, I don't mean to intrude on your training, but I think you should rest today. I'm quite exhausted myself from having to heal you and you need your rest for the next piece of training we have to do," Porom turned to Riku and Palom, "If you two don't mind could we maybe practice on her white magic for a few days. I need to do a bit of practicing myself so we can help each other out."

Kairi sighed and conceited defeat, "That sounds good to me I guess. I'm kinda hungry anyway." She flashed a smile before putting away her Keyblade away and walking off back to Merlin's house. Both Riku and Porom could sense Kairi's confliction in putting off her training but it was for the best.

Palom acknowledged Kairi's reluctance for he had often shared the same impatience on many occasions. While he never chose to admit it, he did want to surpass even Yen Sid himself and while he knew that the road to improvement was good patience, he hardly had any to spare and didn't want to be sound like a hypocrite when teaching Kairi. In a way, it had been bad luck for Kairi that she had ended up being taught by an impatient six year old boy but then it again it was counterbalanced by his patient twin sister.

"You know what? I'm kind of hungry myself. Race you there Porom." Palom ran past Kairi and towards Merlin's.

"Silly Palom, how immature can he be?" Porom muttered to herself and Riku. Riku chuckled at the maturity of Porom and found it hilarious that he was quite like this at her age. If anything Sora had been more like Palom while Riku had the calmer attributes of Porom. Speaking of Sora, Riku truly hoped that the spiky brunette and his apprentice were doing fine so far as well as Donald and Goofy. He had no doubt that Kairi was very concerned with her at least making one reference every day to him.

While Porom went on ahead, Riku looked into the sky, something he saw Kairi doing quite regularly as of late, "Hope you're alright Sora."

* * *

Night descended upon the Radcliffe House, and with it followed silence. The puppies had already been seen off to sleep by their parents and Roger, Anita and Nanny had retired to their respective chambers. As they had no guest rooms, Sora and Luna had to result to using the living room with Sora deciding that Luna would sleep on the couch while Sora would sleep on the floor. Before leaving for upstairs, Anita provided them with two blankets and pillows. Jiminy took to sleeping by the warm and cosy fireplace in the dining room next door.

Luna figured she might as well provide some of her thoughts while she lay on the couch, "Sora, was Wonderland all Alice's dream?"

Sora snuggled into his comfy blanket before replying, "Why do you ask?"

Luna head sank into her pillow a bit more as she tried to explain, "It's just that, while I don't think it was a dream, everything that seemed to be happening in that world was tied to Alice, from the weather to the Heartless appearing. Don't you suppose that it's connected to her somehow?"

"I suppose, her heart is full of light. Who knows what could happen with that power?" said Sora not really in the mood to think things out. Why Luna had decided to bring this up now of all times he didn't know but could she not have waited until morning?

"Then what about the other princesses of hearts? I've been thinking since that talk on the Highwind, that if the guy in the black hood was looking for Alice, what's to say that-"

"Enough Luna. Just get some rest." Sora didn't want to hear anymore. He knew where this was going and all it did was drive his mind and worries straight to Kairi. The possibility of the figure going after Kairi was one that, while seemed large, was also one he tended to ignore simply out of ignorance. He knew though that Riku would be able to handle anything the guy in the black coat had up his sleeves as in a way, Riku was even stronger than Sora.

"Right, I forgot. I'm sorry; I didn't to bring that up." Luna voice fell into a whisper as a pang of guilt hit her hard and fast. While she didn't know much about Sora and Kairi's relationship she knew that they did care for one another and didn't want to think about anything bad happening to each other. It kind of made Luna wonder if Sora felt the same about her. She doubted it though, since they had only met. A bond of had only been a week and a half couldn't possibly hold up to the bond of a lifetime. This begged the following question, what did it mean to be important to someone? Could Luna really ever be that important to anyone, or was it the power of her Keyblade that was the deciding factor in things being played out.

"It's okay Luna; just forget it for now, okay? We've got some training coming up tomorrow." Sora said benevolently. Luna's mouth crept into a slight smile though it would have been impossible for Sora to have seen it in the darkness. For a moment, she thought as if Sora would have shouted at her, but no. It was Sora, who Luna had quickly come to learn as a benevolent and compassionate person. If there was anything she felt she understood about Sora, it was his nature of good will and selflessness. He understood where Luna was coming from, and although he didn't admit it, she could tell her words had not been left hanging on deaf ears.

"Goodnight Sora." Luna whispered.

"Night Luna. Don't let the bed bugs bite." Sora seemed to utter half muffling over his pillow.

"I think you meant couch bugs." Luna said before dropping her head and falling into a peaceful sleep.

Sora was woken up by the sudden tug and pulling of someone above him. He was unable to register who it was and not really sure if he really wanted to sacrifice opening his eyes for the confines of sleep, for he knew that once he opened his eyes, he would find it annoyingly hard to drop back into what he called his peaceful leisure activity. He had been having a pretty good dream which had come down to Sora still back at the islands, and his mom making the most delicious pot roast he had ever seen or tasted. A knock came from the door while he was eating this most exquisite dish and in came Luna who had apparently been attracted by the smell of said roast. The two helped to finish the food much to Sora's mom's delight and… well; he probably would have seen more had he not been reluctantly jolted from his dream.

"Mmm, not now mom, leave me alone." Sora mumbled trying to sink even deeper into his pillow if possible.

"Mom? Oh Sora, I'm glad you think of me in that way but don't you think you're a little bit too old to want a new one?" The voice replied in a joyful way.

Wait a minute, he knew that voice. Opening his eyes, he came across the warm smile of Anita who was bending down looking back at him with caring eyes.

"AAAHHH!" Sora yelled trying to jump up but instead his head came into contact with the table, slamming against it hard and sending him into a state of delirium. Luna who had been asleep on the couch was suddenly made alert by the noise, so much in fact, that she fell of the couch while clutching her sheets.

"Ow! Sora did you have to do that?" Luna muttered disdainfully as she felt the effects of a headache coming on.

"Sorry Luna, it was my fault. Perhaps I shouldn't have stood right in front of him like that." Anita pondered putting her index finger to her lips and looking on dreamily.

"Ya think?!" Sora said between what was a half screech and half whisper. Luna was first to get up and rubbed her eyes to try and adjust to the world around her. She had enjoyed an overall wonderful sleep devoid of any dreams, yet at the same time she thirsted for more, the ones which gave her more of a clue about her memories, not so much the ones with her being chased through a maze by an ill-tempered fiend. Was she to get anymore nightmares or would this 'recession' as she called it, continue for quite some time to come? Though a reason to not see the dreams was that, they barely helped other than piecing together bits of information. If memories were intertwined and linked together as what Jiminy had described in his journal, then unless she remembered everything, it was unlikely the context in which the dream had happened would make any sense to her.

She was taken out of her contemplation from Anita who put a hand on the smaller girl's shoulder, "So Roger and I were wondering if you two would like to join us with the Dalmatians at the park. I think it would be a wonderful trip and the Dalmatians already seemed taken to you two." Anita's hand on Luna's shoulder helped the latter to regain her balance from her weary state just enough so that she could focus on the world around her.

"That would be great, wouldn't it Sora?" Luna agreed as she believed it would be the best place for Sora to train her properly.

"Huh? Ach, yeah… sounds good." Sora expressed a painful expression on his face as he gave a thumbs up of his approval.

"Wonderful. Roger and I will be down in a while." Anita helped the poor boy up before retreating upstairs. Sora was still not happy however with the turnout of his wakening if not feeling a little embarrassed as having referred to Anita as his 'mom' in his sleep though thankfully Luna had not heard this, because judging by her actions in Wonderland, she would more than likely be fuelled with endless taunts to annoy Sora.

The first half of the morning was a regular schedule for the household and not really one Sora and Luna had been accustomed to since being at Radiant Garden. Breakfast was held quickly and finished and the dogs were given their bowls of food to which they happily engaged in, especially Rolly who seemed consistently hungry on the interval of an hour.

Once done and said, all one hundred and one Dalmatians, Roger (who was still humming his new tune to himself), Anita (who was carrying a book in her hand), Sora and Luna took for a large park just outside the skirts of the big city by way of walking. Luna took this opportunity as great exercise to start her training while Sora, who had still not waken up in earnest, showed signs of annoyance on his face resembling that of Donald. Speaking of Donald, Luna couldn't help but wonder what had been the important task Yen Sid had sent them on was. He had seemed rather vague about the whole thing as though he did not want to disclose its contents in front of Sora and her. And it was only until now that she remembered it…

_I have really got to ask those two about the letter when I meet them. _Luna thought, her curiosity reaching a peak. Surprisingly the two had not come across any Heartless on the way to the park, which they were both used to by now. In fact, the world seemed quite at peace overall disregarding the monstrous anomaly that had intruded the Radcliffe's lovely dinner.

"I suppose you're going to remain all grumpy for the rest of the day Sora?" Luna tried to strike a conversation with Sora who looked as if he were deliberately trying to take more notice in the ground rather than his surroundings.

"Yes." Sora grumbled putting his hands into his pockets.

"Well I need you to put off your little façade when it comes to my training? You're not fooling anyone Sora? I expect you to grin in the next five seconds." Luna guessed looking at the invisible watch on her hand.

"Really? You wanna bet?" Sora said meekly. Luna's prediction was almost right; he had lasted four seconds before a giant grin spread across his face.

"Oh, you saw right through me. I won't say I'm pleased about it but I have for the most part gotten over it. Is that what you wanted to hear?" Sora's cheesy grin reflected on Luna as well.

Luna bobbed her head up and down, "As I expected. Not even a Keyblade Master can hide all his secrets from detective Luna."

"Oh! So you're a detective now? I'd like to see some of you deductive skills sometime." Challenged Sora. The worst part is that he somehow knew deep down that he would lose this, considering Luna seemed the type who seemed quite attracted to information, in way he was particularly reminded of Belle and her thirst for knowledge back when she was at Hollow Bastion.

"You've got it; just don't cry when you lose." Luna accepted. She didn't expect her detective skills to show up anytime soon as far as she could discern as they wasn't really any need for them. Throughout this conversation, both of them must have remarked that Roger and Anita, who had probably been listening intently on a clue as to who their guests were, seemed completely baffled by what Sora and Luna were talking about. If they had a question in their minds as to what a Keyblade Master was, they chose not to bring it up and instead reverted back to doing their own things.

The park, as Sora and Luna figured it would be, was a vast, green and warm locale which seemed to span for miles on end and would be perfect for training. Roger and Anita soon located a bench nearby them and sat.

"Why don't you two play with the puppies for a while? A game of hide and seek maybe?" Roger suggested pulling out his pipe.

"Huh? Hide and Seek? With 99 puppies? In this gigantic park?" Luna blinked several times at the absurdity of the task. It would pretty much be impossible to find that many.  
"Yeah, that's- Hey wait!" Before Sora could finish what it was saying it seemed that Roger's words had been taken at heart by several of the puppies who had wandered off in different directions with the other puppies following in suit. It seemed that the instigator of this, Pongo had barked the orders to the puppies or something to that effect for as they left immediately following his words.

"Oh, looks like they're already gone. Might want to take Pongo and Perdita with you to help find them." Roger chuckled along with Anita before walking over to the stand in the grassy area opposite to purchase one of the newspapers.

"Well, looks like your deductive skills might come into play here Luna. How about we split up? Which one do you want to take?" Sora nudged his head at the two parents.

"Dibs on Perdita," Luna said quickly getting pumped up. Turning to her female companion she tried to replicate that same enthusiasm within Perdy, "we've got to beat them and find all the puppies before they do. I know we can do it. How about you?"

It seemed that this little speech was enough to fuel Perdy and with that she and Luna raced off to find the puppies. The most obvious one to find was Rolly, who had actually not gone that far at all so the two easily caught up to it before proceeding further.

"Luna I didn't say it was a race!" Sora shouted after her but he doubted she could hear him being so far off now.

"Well, looks like it's a race Pongo. We should ask around," Pongo nodded in agreement with Sora as they started walking off, "you know what they say. So and steady wins the race… I mean I don't know if you've heard the phrase but uh… okay Sora, you are talking to a dog who can't speak back. It's Pluto all over again…" Sora smiled sheepishly before moving on quickly along with Pongo.

While Pongo sniffed the ground for nearby traces of the puppies, Sora intruded on a couple who was sitting by the river bank.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt but have you seen a bunch of puppies with black spots walking around?" Sora asked.

"Do you mind? We were in the middle of something." The man said indicating the close space between him and his other.

Sora wasn't sure what he was getting at so he continued, "Yes, we all enjoy talking with friends sometimes but, I really need to find these puppies so if you-"

"Leave us in peace!" The man yelled in anger causing a giggle from the female next to him.  
"Yes sir." Sora said quickly, turned swiftly and walked away. He managed to barely pick up the last words uttered from the woman, "You're so cute when you're furious" or something to that extent.

"How's your investigation going boy?" Sora asked as he neared Pongo. Pongo barked happily and jumped into the bushes, chasing out a group of the puppies residing there, "Nice work. That was five so we only have… 93 left," Sora supressed the rage inside which felt like it was about to burst and converted it into a forced smile, "Progress I suppose. Alright guys, head back to Roger and Anita."

"I can tell this is going to be a long day."

The next few people they came across were not nearly as brutish in their personality as the first two. They seemed to be a popular park which made their job quite a bit easier as most of them had spotted signs of the puppies. It turned out that they all liked to hide in groups of five for one thing making Sora and Pongo's job significantly easier. Just like Sora had said, they took their time nice and slowly hoping not to leave any spot untouched. The only other clue as to where he Dalmatians could be was the light patches of footprints and trampled grass which could only be seen if one were to really inspect it more thoroughly. Through this, they found quite a lot of puppy herds and even located a brief glimpse of puppies that had probably been found by Luna and Perdita.

The afternoon began to show its face as Sora counted the last bunch of puppies that he could find, "Right, so that's at least twenty three of them. If they were all to travel in fives then it would be…" He paused to count, "Thirty three in total. So we've already won then. HAHA!" Sora laughed triumphantly alerting several of the people near him in the process. Flashing weird looks briefly, they soon continued on with their normal activities.

"Oops, was a bit loud there huh?" Sora playfully rubbed Pongo on his head signalling a bark of appreciation from him, "well, since there's no way we can't win now, let's just head back to Anita and Roger."

The two made it back to the bench where Roger had finished reading the newspaper by name and was glad to see Sora and Pongo had come back along with most of the puppies.

"I take it, Luna's not back yet?" Sora asked with a look of amusement sketched upon his face.

"Nope, but some of the puppies did come back. I'm not sure whether you find them or she did. There 84 puppies here, so 15 more." Roger told him. It did not take long before Luna and Perdita appeared along with the rest of the pups in tow.

"You look wrecked Luna. I didn't know you losing would have such an effect. What happened to those deductive skills of yours?" Sora said observing the girl who now looked as exhausted and annoyed as Sora had when he had woken up.

"That's not it. There was a dog and a cat walking around in the park. The dog saw the cat and started chasing after it and the cat went under me and you can guess what happened next." Luna informed them while tying her hair back into a ponytail.

"Hahaha, oh the look on your face." Sora pointed out while laughing.

"It's not funny," Luna finished tying her hair back up before she let out a laugh of her own, "okay, just a bit."

All four of them laughed seeming to enjoy the moment for a while. Eventually, Sora realised he had to press on with training and excused both of them from Roger and Anita's presence.

* * *

Finding a secluded location was a surprisingly easy thing to do considering the amount of people in the park. All they had to do was travel a bit further than at least Sora had gone to find a wide open field by climbing up what they had to admit was the rather steep slope of a hill.

"Well, now that we did that little exercise, how did you find it? Dog and cat excluded." Sora quickly put in. He could see this being a journey where he and Luna exchanged taunts with one another along the way if this was going to continue.

"Surprisingly good, I had a fun time with Perdy. We just were pretty unlucky." Luna answered looking down on the park below her.

"Luck had nothing to do with it. Sure, we all need it but you have to rely on skill as well. Did you ask anyone for help?" Sora asked.

Luna shook her head, "No, I kind of just hoped that we'd find them all. I was having fun either way, I wouldn't have minded if you'd won or I had."

"Well that's one of your lessons right there then. You kind of have to observe your surroundings a little bit more. I'm sure you already do it, more so than me, but you might have won had you asked around a little." Sora told her.

"True. I should be mindful of my surroundings as well right? Like the slightest sound of rustling from a bush or even footprints might give away someone's position right?" Luna remarked wisely.

_Who's teaching who here again? _Sora thought before grinning toothily, "Uh, yeah, heh heh. Something like that. I was of course about to say that. I mean, you can learn a lot from the world around you huh?" Sora voice went high pitched for a second before he paused and calmed himself down, "Anyway, back to regular training. I'm gonna teach you some magic, so by the end of the day you're most likely going to be pretty exhausted."

Luna ignored Sora's warning and summoned her Keyblade, "You know I'm ready. I'm always ready Sora."

"Yeah, except when a dog-"

"Shut up Sora! Back to teacher mode with you." Luna rolled her eyes at Sora's attempt to put her down before getting into her fighting stance, Sora once again finding some a sense of tranquillity for some reason due to her fighting stance imitating his own. Though it seemed to have developed since the last time Sora had seen it as well. Her feet were wider apart, as though to emphasise a pounce or spring. Luna personally found this an easy way of increasing her speed at the start of the fight and so long as she didn't slip and fall, she wouldn't have any problem getting into the action. She had also loosened her grip on the Keyblade just a tiny bit as she found when swinging that her she became a lot more fatigued more quickly from grappling onto the handle so hardly.

Luna soon came to learn more magic though to say she was, doing masterfully at it was another thing. Her first new magic came in the forms of thunder and cure. Thunder was a lot harder for some reason for her to produce. Sora talked about a spark which causes fire. The only problem was that she had learned fire first so it was hard to replicate the spark beforehand without immediately thinking about the flame. She eventually got the hang of it after what Luna could probably guess was a hundred or so tries (even if it was exaggerated) though she still wasn't perfect with it. Sora had told her that was fine as most of his magic seemed just as weak as her own from his own personal experience when he was starting out. Luna agreed with Sora that the key to enhancing skills would be in training though Luna apparently wasn't going to be training that much until she and Sora reached the other world. Still it was nice to practice in the meanwhile.

With cure, however, Sora seemed to take more interest and prioritised it stressing that it was important to learn.

"Cure especially, will save your life out there. You can't rely on potions too much; otherwise they'll run out," Sora made sure she understood before continuing, "Though the same works both ways round as well. If you use cure too much, you'll run out of energy a lot more quickly so you have to find a balance between using magic and items. It's probably one of the more draining spells to perform. Actually, now that I think about it, we really should head back to Radiant Garden after your trip. I remember when I was training, well I still am, but when I was learning to use your spells, I wasn't nearly as good with them as you or Donald."

"Oh come on Sora. There's a time for jokes and all but not now." Luna continued to smile broadly at to compliment regardless of whether he was stretching the truth or not.

"I'm serious," Sora defended before lightening up a little, "look. I went into this pretty much not knowing what to do. You've already learned more magic than I have in a smaller amount of time. You've finished the elemental magic stuff and after we finish cure then we can work on the more advanced stuff. It took me a while to learn all of it and I'm not anywhere near finished yet, I feel like I'm just as rough right now as I was a year and a half ago. That probably has to do with the fact I've been slacking off lately…"

"Even so. I've only come this far because I've had a great teacher." Luna told him knowing her skills wouldn't be as nearly as good if she did not have the positive demeanour of Sora along with her.

"Friend actually," Sora corrected not really liking the word 'teacher'. In all honesty, he didn't even feel like a Keyblade Master but that may also be because of the slacking off as well as his increase in popularity among the citizens of Disney Town and Radiant Garden, "anyway, as I was saying before, Merlin set up this magic training room when he was living in Traverse Town and it allowed me to train with my magic while I kept my full energy intact. So maybe I can get Merlin to do the same for you."

"That would be great, thanks Sora." Luna told him. The word 'friend' seemed to have a big enough of an impact on her when she heard it. She had thought before that she could never really be that important to Sora when compared to those who had stuck by him all the time but then she was forgetting… it was Sora. Maybe time had nothing to do it with it as long as she stuck by him and supported him through thick and thin. That would be enough to create bonds just as strong as ones his other friends currently occupied.

"Don't thank me, thank Merlin when you see him," Sora paused before looking back at his friend and saying in an almost lazy way, "how about we take a break for today or something."

Luna's silence and her facial features told Sora all he needed to know.

_Yeah, I thought that wasn't going to work. _Sora nodded his head almost unconsciously.

He soon conceded, "Fine, fine. We'll practice some more. Okay, so here's what I need you imagine when casting cure…"

* * *

**You know since its December, I owe you all at least something, so I'll try to get out as many chapters as possible before the month is over. Next chapter is more training and something about puppies getting kidnapped (I wonder who it is? *sarcasm*). Until next time, catch you later. **


	22. Midnight

**A much faster update this time, but here in this chapter we get a bit more insight into the mysterious man. Luna also learns a lot more. Throughout the story, I will pretty much be using abilities and Heartless from the actual games and some of my own, so you may need KH Wiki up just in case. Now on to the story.**

* * *

Chapter 22

Midnight

For whatever reason, Luna found cure to be more of an easy spell to learn, since she was able to perform it within less than twenty tries. The problem was, it still didn't make it any less exhausting and Luna could now see why Sora had said it was a draining spell. It was like she was sacrificing energy to restore her own health and as her energy was nearly low from the plentiful use of thunder; she found her magic quickly drained after one use of the spell.

"You're doing great Luna." Sora commented. Once he had found that Luna had been able to learn more easily through visualising like with Palom's teachings, it had not been so hard to get her to perform the spell.

"Thanks. Let's do some physical attacks now. I think I need to let my magic rest for a bit." Luna heaved herself up from the ground where she sat, picking up the Keyblade along with it. Regardless of her lack of energy, she was feeling more so refreshed than before thanks to the restorative spell.

"My thoughts exactly, sure we can take a break from magic for a while. Let's see… actually, we'll try something a bit advanced. Watch this…" Sora's Kingdom Key shone a bright gold and he performed Ars Arcanum for the first time in front of Luna's eyes. It was a brilliant and flashy move involving a combination between fast and powerful combo hits which seemed to have a cheerful impression on Luna as her smile spread wide. He finished by jumping into the air and pulling off a combo there before slamming back into the ground with explosion.

"Whoa!" Luna blinked several times to check if what she had just witnessed was even what had actually happened. There were cracks on the ground where Sora's Keyblade had landed after his shockwave impact, "_Cooooollll_."

Sora couldn't help but laugh at Luna's childlike behaviour, "I know right. I call it the Ars Arcanum since it's always improving but what do you think?"

"I think you're a show off." Luna told him causing Sora to slump in his high stride.

"Thanks. Always gotta bring me down." Sora lipped.

"Though it's a showing off I can appreciate. I'd probably have done the same," Luna smiled warmly, "so… how do I do it?"

Sora straightened back up, "Well first, it takes a lot of time to do, even more to perfect so don't expect to get it immediately but when you do, you'll pretty much be able to pull off quick and powerful combos normally. Though you'll need to start working on your combos more and in order to do that you're going to have to be speedier at getting to the enemies."

"So, getting closer to the enemy and all of that jazz?" Luna nodded seeming to take this in.

"Pretty much. If you want to learn Ars Arcanum, you have to master some of the basics first." Sora responded.

The next few minutes were spent helping Luna with her speed. The first one Sora wanted Luna to know was the sliding dash. Sora thought that the best way for her to learn was by doing it the same way he did, and so while she would have to do the majority of the work by herself, he would of course help in developing her techniques while she did so.

An important part of the sliding dash was the need to quick run before the attack and so Sora figured he would need to teach her this as well though he chose not to spend too long doing this on purpose so she could practice by herself, it was also time wasting.

Abilities which followed which he wanted her to learn was quick blitz and therefore a normal blitz (three successive strikes instead of one), guard break which she trained by trying to break Sora's guard, flash step which helped in dodging as well as breaking the enemy's defence and of course strike raid, which Luna still had not gotten the hang of. Either her throw was too weak or her aim was slightly off and she needed to improve this. Sora found himself being the target for her improvements.

"Hey, maybe a bit lower!" Sora squealed nervously and ducked as Luna's Dream Seeker almost hit him in the head.

"Sorry." Luna apologised quickly as her Keyblade came back to her. She caught it and tried to quick run but found herself buckling instead. If Sora could hazard a guess as to why, he would say it was due to his clothes enhancing his abilities which helped him to learn a lot of them. Wisdom form especially, was useful in helping him learn to quick run though he could only hope that someone could learn them without the special powers which aided him in taking down the Organization.

Getting her act together, Luna flung her Keyblade again at Sora. This one hit dead centre, with Sora blocking it with his Keyblade using two hands and knocking it back. Luna jumped to catch it before throwing it again. Once again, another dead on accurate aim as Sora mirrored his previous move, knocking the Keyblade back.

"I'm getting better." Luna called out breathing heavily catching her Keyblade again. Sora was all the more ready to take call it a day after being knocked around like a plaything while only Luna was to benefit. He was happy for her of course, but almost risking his life from Luna's clumsiness, although not entirely her fault, was not really worth it. Luna seemed to share his sentiments, "We should call it a day. I'm exhausted."

"Trust me. You don't know how long I was waiting for you to say that. I'm sure Roger and Anita must be wondering where we are right now. Let's head back to them." Sora mood phased from frightened to thankful. He was generally impressed with Luna's work and it once again astounded him that she was doing a lot better than he had. He honestly wasn't sure if it was his teachings doing it either, because she seemed to have a natural talent for it and he felt compelled to help her in any way he could along the way. Except when he felt lazy, and right now was one of those times.

On their way back to the Radcliffes and their Dalmatians, they passed by a moogle vendor who seemed to be selling some potions and another item, an ether.

"What's that?" Luna inquired pointing at the transparent light blue liquid.

"And ether kupo, they replenish your mana, or energy in other words, kupo. Welcome to Kupopo's sundries. Would you like to buy or sell kupo?" Kupopo asked.

"Right, we'll take six potions. Ethers are a bit too expensive for me. Sounds good Luna?" Sora looked at Luna who was observing the moogle in the most strangest way from all angles.

"Huh? Oh yeah, yeah, that's good." Luna pressed her finger on the moogle's red nose and gave it a slight push.

"Kupo, she's abusing me!" Kupopo cried spinning in different directions crazily from Luna's 'slight' push.

"Uh, don't worry, she's only curious." Sora backed Luna up quickly before giving her a look which told her to apologise.

Luna made to stop the moogle from spinning it's spot and correct its original position, "I'm so sorry. I really was curious about you guys."

"Just don't do it again kupo. I have my eyes on you." The moogle gave shifty eyes at Luna though it really only came off as cute. After a second, the moogle went back to his duties of carrying each item Sora and Luna had requested one by one with his tiny small hands.

_Oh, this is so cute; it's almost making me sick. _Luna covered her eyes not really wanting to be comprised of thoughts regarding the abnormalities of moogles. She was going to have to look at them eventually though.

"Here you go kupo. That's 180 munny." Kupopo calculated. Sora fished into his pockets and pulled out some of the munny. Counting it, Sora placed the exact amount down on the stand before taking the potions. Luna helped to share the weight by taking three off his hands.

"Thanks, and once again, I really am sorry." Luna glanced behind her shoulder at the moogle as she and Sora walked off.

The moogle waited for them to be out of a certain distance before a sweat drop fell from his face, "This job isn't getting any easier kupo."

* * *

Endless rain poured down in the masses as a black-clad figure walked on the cobblestone paved road of the fifth district in Traverse Town. Accompanying him was the dog he had met at Disney Castle after attacking the King, Pluto, who seemed to have been following him the whole time with a face that warranted questions. Ever since he had left Disney Castle, the man's journey had been plagued with the annoyance of the creature beside him, who he was sure detested him greatly for attacking his owner. The dog's anguish had led him to follow the man in black, possibly in hopes that he would encounter other friends soon, such as the boy in the Keyblade. The man just barely complied with its wishes.

-Flashback-

The hooded figure arrived on the hill of the town of the Destiny Islands, only but one of two islands where his target could possibly be. Ahead of him he could see the segregated islands glistening and bathing in the orange glow of twilight. His investigations into the boy who wielded the key had led him here and surprisingly it had been an easy feat to accomplish. One of his best friends, he had found, was a Princess of Heart as with Alice. Being near the blonde for quite a while, had helped to enhance his senses and detect stronger lights than others. While her two companions, had fairly strong lights, which was a requirement when wielding a Keyblade, Kairi's light intrigued him the most as not only was she a Princess of Heart, but a wielder of a Keyblade making her the strongest candidate for his 'experiments'. If her light was as strong as he had deduced, then his priorities would shift entirely to focusing on one as opposed to seven.

A bark could be heard behind the man and he turned around in surprise and horror. Would this mere dog be the one to screw up his plans?

"Shoo. Leave me alone you wretched thing." The man muttered gesturing the dog to go back into the portal. It was too late though, the dog jumped and clung to the man's cloak with his teeth and the portal closed behind the two. He was thankful that there were not many residents walking by as he was seriously considering silencing the foolish creature. Then again, he understood the need for the dog to protect his master and catch his assailant. It was devotion, a remarkable if not foolish trait, sacrificing yourself to protect others. Still, it wasn't as if the dog could do anything about it, he was trained in that way after all.

So instead of slicing him into a can of dog meat as the man joked, he instead decided that devotion was much more suited to better tastes.

The man kneeled down and held the dog steady before looking into its ferocious eyes. He had never tried this on animals however the effect seemed to be the same. The dog's conduct seemed to turn into that of a calm, bright and cheery one. The figure smiled at Pluto and patting him on the head, evoking a heavy pant of excitement from the dog.

"Good boy. I know we'll get along just fine now, won't we?" He said cheerily before getting back up and proceeding down the hill, the dog following behind.

_Who knew,_ he thought as he treaded down past the various houses, _he may have found a new friend in the dog. _

Now was the question of where he was going to find Sora. The strongest light was easier to find from far away when compared to being in the actual world itself as there were many individual lights which could obstruct the brightest one. He assumed this is why it had taken so long for Maleficent to recover all the princesses of Heart before and he could not deny that he hadn't faced the same problem. He admitted, it would have been a lot easier to go for an actual princess, such as Cinderella, when compared to just a normal girl, Alice. Still he had found something intriguing about a girl fantasizing about being in a make belief land.

The man figured he may as well ask around and pulled off his cloak. It wasn't as if these people would be around anyway to remember his face and in fact, wearing a cloak was a lot more suspicious especially if the islanders knew about the purpose of the cloak, he simply couldn't take the risk.

He carried the cloak on his back while he pursued Sora by asking questions to the people living in the houses. The first one he came across was a middle-aged woman.

"Sorry ma'am but I was wondering if you've seen Sora, Riku or Kairi anywhere?" The man quizzed.

The woman seemed to look at him in the most suspicious way, "Have I seen you before?"

_So it has come to this. I knew this would be a bad idea. _The man squinted his eyes shut and hoped beyond all that she didn't call him out on his act. Was it possible the fool, Sora had told them about the other worlds? Or was it something else, something that he feared possibly even more.

"Oh, sorry if it seems like I'm being rude. It's just that our town is pretty small you see so there are barely any new faces that anyone doesn't know in this town. You do look kind of familiar though," The woman was looking directly at his eyes. Eventually he opened his eyes and looked off in the distance, "but no dear, I haven't seen those three. You could ask their parents though. Poor Riku… he lost his mother when he was six and Kairi arrived sometime after and was adopted by the mayor. I'm not exactly sure how she arrived though."

Why was she telling him this? Was it not personal information or did the people here just like to share information like that when strangers appeared at their door? Still, she had mentioned that she found him familiar, and he'd be darned if he didn't play on that.

"Yeah, it's really tough on those two, huh? But they have each other," The man acknowledged. _And soon they won't. _"Well, thank you for your time ma'am. Uh, where is Sora's house again?"

"Two houses down. But forget them for a while; you're welcome to spend your time with me handsome." She gave him a suggestive wink and slid her hands up his arm.

"Yeeaaah… no." The man gave a forced smile and made to retreat quickly from her doorstep with Pluto. His next stop was Sora's house, which was two houses down as the woman described. The man rang the bell.

"Hello? Who are you?" Sora's mom asked when she opened the door. She had the same rich brown hair that Sora possessed and wasn't looking too bad for being in her late 30s.

"I'm one of Sora's friends. I was wondering if you know where he was since I need to inform him on the homework his teacher left him at school?" The man said. He was fairly a teenager and pretty much an adult by now but he didn't look so old as to not appear to be Sora's friend.

"Oh, don't you go there? He, Riku and Kairi are always playing on the other island opposite," She informed him in a cross manner, "He has a whole lot of chores to do so when you see him. Please bring him back. Might even help to give him a good old thump across the head in case he makes the excuse of 'I forgot' again."

"Will do. Thanks." He replied cheerfully before setting off for the beach. In a way he almost felt sorry for what he was about to do to this town. Its unsuspecting populace would be ravaged by chaos once again. Once he was far away for no one to see, he donned the cloak again and continued down the hill. Pluto was still just as merry and happy to be going along with him though this was as far as he could allow the dog to go, "Okay, listen boy. I need you to go into this portal and wait for me on the other side. That clear?" He thrust out his arm and a corridor of darkness appeared in front of both of them.

Pluto nodded his head and ran right through, with the man closing it afterwards. Then he continued on. As he was about to get to the beach coast line, two figures were walking away from their boats. As the came closer, he could clearly see the outlines of a tall boy and a girl beside him.

"Riku and Kairi," The man identified, "but where's Sora? Oh, this couldn't be any easier." He chuckled softly before hiding in the bushes and managing to pick up on their conversation.

"Riku, leave it alone, please." Kairi flushed a bright pink.

"I'm just asking? He might like you back. You never know." Riku grinned.

"Was that a suggestion? Riku, I don't have to describe my feelings if I don't want to." They stopped just in front of the bushes the cloaked figures was hiding in much to his annoyance.

"Aha, so you do have feelings for him then. Why don't you just admit it Kairi? I'll help set up the romantic dinner, and the candles and then the movie… isn't that what girls like?" Riku teased.

Kairi seemed as if she could not believe what she was hearing, "Oh, sometimes you are so infuriating Riku."

"How about the paopu fruit?" Riku continued his games before shaking his head, "Sorry about that Kairi. I shouldn't invade in your privacy like that."

Kairi huffed, "Well at least you learn fast. It's a start."

"I was joking around Kairi. Though really, Sora-"

"Riku!" Kairi cut him off as Riku ran off and Kairi made to chase him. The two laughed as they went back up the hill while the man who was jumping out of the bushes, could hardly say he was anything but indifferent to that conversation. Still, who knew what information could come in handy later on?

He opened up a portal and stepped in, appearing on the other island. It was quite dark now, but he could just barely make out the figure of Sora on the Paopu tree. It was time to execute his plan.

-End Flashback-

After that event, the man had taken to shelter in Traverse Town where he had met up with Pluto as well as the Reapers, a group which were bent on taking over this world by inducing fear and conflict between the people, who would soon no longer be able to discern the hated players from normal people. While he wanted to see the end of this, he knew it wouldn't be for a while. The Reapers were ruthless in their plan, wiping out a set amount of players each week, though the stranger had told them to spare the players which had encountered Sora and Luna. They were to be the bargaining chips once the Reapers neared the end of their game. For now, he had to return to Maleficent and starting his own plan. Opening the corridor, he signalled Pluto to step inside before he walked in himself. The last thing he saw was the look on a little blonde haired girl's face and what he presumed was her brother as he disappeared right in front of them.

* * *

After their exhausting day at the park, the Radcliffes, Dalmatians, Sora and Luna returned home. Luna and Sora never wanted to see another slope in their life after struggling to move up it on the way back to the house. They had already left for a short time to visit the Gummi Ship so that they could drop of their new supplies before transporting back down to the world to continue to the house, though this had only been accomplished by what were rather flimsy excuses in order to get the Radcliffe's to not follow them.

Sora was just about ready to give up and pass out on the floor right there but mustered up enough strength to at least get to the same place he had been sleeping in the night before dropping to it. Luna found herself not nearly as tired, though she assumed Sora was mainly over exaggerating, it after all, would not have been the first time. Even so, she fell on the couch hugged the armrest.

"Ah, just in time. Dinner's about ready," Nanny exclaimed coming out of the kitchen to see a deflated Sora and a slouching Luna, "Um, did I come in at the wrong time?"

Roger turned to Nanny, "It's quite alright Nanny. They're just a tad exhausted is all."

"A tad? Try _really_ exhausted." Sora moaned. He wondered if they really needed to be here? There was no sign of Heartless anywhere and a keyhole hadn't even been found. He thought to raise his concerns about this to Luna in the night. He appreciated the Radcliffe's hospitality, but the longer they stared here, the longer other worlds would be in danger. Not to mention, there was no sign of the King anywhere around here.

"By the way, that De Vil woman came around while you were gone asking for the puppies again." Nanny's mood darkened.

Luna jumped up from her position now alert, "Really? What did you say?"

"No of course. I made our position quite clear that those puppies were not for sale." Nanny repeated what she told Cruella.

"Who is she anyway?" Sora asked puzzled at why this woman was so interested in puppies.

"A friend of mine from school. She's now a millionaire from selling her fur coats." Anita detailed.

"So then, she's after your puppies to make coats out of them? What a horrid woman." Luna frowned. Perhaps woman wasn't even the most accurate term for her as creature would be a lot more fitting, or even perhaps monster.

"Come on, let's not talk about her. It's ruining my appetite." Sora picked himself off the ground, now seeming to return his normal state. Luna shook her head in wonderment at Sora before hurrying off to the dining table.

* * *

Three days passed soon passed with Sora and Luna not coming any closer to finding the keyhole than they had been at the start. After their conversation, three days before in which Sora expressed his worries about staying, the two had decided that they may as well at least try and find the keyhole just in case the Heartless attacked. It was clear they had to do something while they were here for the gateways to other worlds were still closed. Luna remembered Sora telling her that as long as the pathways were closed, they couldn't travel. If that was the case, they were either stuck or would have to go through an alternate, much longer route to get to their next destination.

In the end, they concluded that Luna and Sora should both get some more training in while they were here in the front garden as they searched for the elusive keyhole. They couldn't say that they had expected it would have taken them this long however. What made things worse was that there was a sudden rush of cold breeze which made it even harder to train for Luna as she found herself unable to concentrate.

Sora and Luna remained in the living room while Roger and Anita had gone out once again along with Pongo and Perdita as they had forgotten to get more food for the dogs. Beautiful white, cold and silent snow dropped from the skies above from outside the house settling on the ground as Christmas for the world neared in earnest.

"You should see this place called Christmas town. It's a great place with elves and even Santa Claus." Sora found himself telling Luna as the two watched the snow fall down.

"Santa Claus? Sora, I don't think he exists." Luna said remembering from her most recent dream when she was talking with this Astra person. She had claimed that the jolly old man in red did not exist and somehow Luna had felt some emotion somewhere inside in which she had agreed with this person at a much later date.

"That's what I thought too, until I saw him. You probably want to check out Halloween Town while you're there as well." Sora mulled over his adventures with Donald, Goofy and Jack Skellington.

"Well, you've seen more than I do, so I believe you." Luna told him truthfully. A smile crept on her face glad to know that her thoughts and even the girl was wrong. She had found out through what little of the journey she had been on, that a key part of it was the surprises. The surprise upon hearing that Santa Claus really did exist was one of many that Luna wished she would have all the time.

Just as she was thinking of asking more about the journey, her eyes widened in horror at the appearance of the Heartless in the front garden. Sora saw the same; a Heartless which resembled the Bookmaster but a lot bigger and carried a large book in its hands.

"Well if that ain't a big one, looks like a Bookmaster but bigger," Jiminy pulled out his journal recording this newest Heartless' appearance, "can't really figure out a name to call it though. Pagemaster maybe?"

"Not now Jiminy." Sora said. He and Luna rushed out of the front door and summoned their Keyblades. The Heartless read a few incantations of its book before a Dual Blade Heartless appeared in front of it.

"Ah, so it can summon things then. Jiminy, how about the Summon Master." Luna suggested before springing to action but attacking the Dual Blade Heartless. Sora turned to the Summon Master and was about to attack him but a barrier obscured the way preventing him from doing so, so he also focused on the other Heartless.

The Dual Blade's nature was aggressive as Sora and Luna soon found out. It jumped back and slashed at Sora with its blades. He was only just barely able to dodge the attack.

"Okay, this thing is fast." Sora said as the Dual Blade continued to swipe up and down, attacking relentlessly with Sora guarding against each hit but being knocked back each time by the blow of the hit. Eventually, Sora fell onto the soft snow covered ground and resorted to using fire magic. Luna joined in from using fire in synch to hit the heartless.

"I don't think this is doing anything." Luna said frustrated that the Dual Blade seemed impervious to fire, or it didn't seem to have much of an effect on it. Luna jumped in the air and slide dashed tackling the Heartless to the ground before it could impale Sora.

"Luna!" Sora said helping her up from the ground. The Dual Blade jumped back up and walked backwards down the hill while Sora and Luna threw every type of magic they knew.

Sora used zero gravity, pointing his Keyblade at the Heartless. The Dual Blade was flattened due to the former spell and before it realised what was going on, was flipped and rotated in the air.

"Thunder!" Luna yelled hitting the enemy with multiple bolts of lightning causing it to spin erratically. The zero gravity effect was soon removed to be replaced with that of confusion among the face of the Dual Blade. It also seemed to be moving slowly with electricity crackling around its body caused by Luna's thunder.

"And now we attack." Luna grinned blitzing three times and knocking it down. Sora attacked the Heartless with several blizzards, helping Luna to finish it off.

The Summon Master whizzed around and began trying to summon yet another Heartless. The chance of fighting another one of the same type of Heartless was something the two did not want to chance. Sora throwing fire magic at the Heartless proved it was now vulnerable as it hit it knocking the book out of its hands.

"SORA! LUNA! HELP!" A desperate plea could be heard coming from the house.

"Nanny?" Sora motioned for Luna to check it out while he handled the Heartless. Luna ran back up the hill as quick as her feet would allow under the thick snow, which wasn't that much. Luna almost stumbled, but caught herself and continued on.

"What's wrong?" Luna enquired as Nanny stood outside the house pointing towards the left side of the fence.

"A bunch of no good crooks, that's what they were. They locked me in the bedroom while they took goodness knows what." Nanny went back inside to check while Luna jumped over the fence, following the trail of footprints downwards. As she did so, Soldier Heartless appeared left and right which she quickly took out on her way downwards.

Sora didn't have time to wonder about the disturbance for the Summon Master picked up the book quickly. Using zero gravity on it, he proceeded to take it out with an aerial slam. He didn't even wait for the heart to appear from the Heartless' shell before heading back up to the house.

"Nanny! Luna!" Sora called from the front door. He entered the house and walked through until he reached Nanny in the Dalmatian's playroom. She had a look of horror on her face, though Sora could not surmise as to why.

"Did something happen? Where's Luna?" Sora asked slowly.

"The puppies… thirty of them. They're gone!" Nanny slowly looked up, her hands shaking violently. Sora let his hands loosen and his Keyblade fall to the ground and looked at the remaining puppies.

"This can't be happening." He said, feeling as if had just caused the deaths of thirty puppies himself. _Why did I leave the door open?_


	23. The Harshest Winter

**I would like to say thank you those who have followed the story so far, as well as everyone who continues to show interest in this story. I'll say now that I keep finding new ideas to add this story and it really seems to be developing into something a lot more than what I had originally intended, but the plot pretty much remains the same. I guess that's what happens when you find it hard not add certain ideas into your story. **

**Also, a profile for Luna can be found in, well, my profile, so check it out if you need a reminder of her appearance.**

* * *

Chapter 23

The Harshest Winter

Luna tripped and stumbled as she made her way down the snowy hill which following the trail of footprints set out for her by the crooks.

"I _really_ hate hills," Luna muttered to herself blasting a Soldier in front of her with fire. She was thankful the snow was falling slower than before, however her eyes with still limited in the darkness, making it hard to see far in front of her. Soon enough she saw the shadows of two people in front of her and made to call for them, "Hey! Whatever you took, give it back!"

The two criminals in front of her turned around to see the source of the disturbance. Jasper, a slender and tall man could only just briefly see the outlines of Luna coming towards them and pointed her out to his partner.

"Looks like we angered a magpie, eh Horace?" Jasper snickered as he turned back in front of him to focus on where he was heading. In his hand was a brown sack full of puppies kicking and stretching, "You're gonna have to try harder than that little ones."

His ally, pretty much the opposite of Jasper in being a lot shorter and more obese, laughed alongside his brother and was also carrying a bag full of puppies as well, though his height limited him to dragging the sack behind him instead of picking it like with Jasper.

"What if she catches up with us?" Horace asked as the two caught sight of their vehicle on the road just a few ways off from their current position.

"Doubt it, not in this amount of snow she won't. You see Horace? I told ya it'd been fine." Jasper gulped as he almost ran into one the creatures Cruella had said she had placed as a distraction. Neither of the two could say they were really happy about working with the woman in question, especially when it came to their lives being in danger due to frightening creatures they had never seen before. All that really mattered was the money at the end of the day and that was that.

Luna cursed her lack of speed as it seemed as if the two were going to make it to the van situated on the road. Still, she persisted with all hopes in catching up with them, though the task seemed very unlikely at the moment. All she had to do was concentrate and aim at the two and hope she could possibly delay them; however the Heartless seemed to deem their top priority as one of annoyance at the moment and jumped in her way trying to attack her. Having experience of fighting Soldiers before she easily took them out before trying to aim a shot at Jasper and Horace.

_Only one chance._ Luna shook her head trying to point at the two but failing miserably. It was nigh impossible to aim properly while moving. All she really could do was spam multiple attacks and hope on hit them, though it was possible all those hits would be even less accurate. Luna relentlessly used fire magic over and over again; the spell itself seeming no longer difficult to perform though she knew it was still at its basic form.

Jasper and Horace ducked as jets of fire projectiles reigned past over their heads.

"She's a serious one, ain't she?" Horace exclaimed as he slid down the last patch of ice to arrive at the road with his brother.

"Yeah, with that aggression you'd think she'd be wanting to kill the puppies." Jasper shrugged sarcastically, opening the car door.

"Give whatever you stole back! It's not yours." Luna shouted as she stepped down to the road slowly, her fingers now freezing and seeming to be almost stuck to her Keyblade in the bitter cold.

Horace seemed to contemplate this for a second, "What do you say Jasper?"

"Well, let's put it this way. They're not for sale!" Jasper laughed before jumping into the driver's seat. Horace scrambled in next to him and closed the door behind.

"Wait!" Luna after somehow managing to keep her balance through most of the hill finally fell and rolled down to the road. Getting up quickly, she stood up just only to clearly see the face of the culprits for a second before they zoomed down the road in their van, "They're not for sale… no, it couldn't be…" Luna summoned her Keyblade back from the ground into her hand and climbed back up to the house. While the Heartless seemed to be gone now, that was hardly the least of her concerns for she dearly hoped that her guess was wrong and that they had taken something else. Still, the thought never could leave her mind no matter how much she tried to drive it out. The thoughts bundles of black spots on white.

* * *

Sora continuously stared at the fireplace in the dining room, ignoring any sign of intrusion including that of Luna's rather loud entrance as she slammed open the door and made with haste for the Dalmatians playroom. She stopped when she saw Sora sitting by the dining table.

"What did they take?" Luna asked, hoping beyond all hope that her guess was wrong. As Sora looked up back into her eyes however, with the tint of deepest sadness behind his blue eyes, she knew her guess was correct.

"The puppies. They took thirty of them. _Thirty_." Sora clenched his fists before burying his head into the table once again. Luna didn't know how to evoke the emotions running through her at this point in time. On one hand she wanted to collapse to the floor, curl up in to a ball and cry and on the other hand, she wanted to go over to Sora and comfort him, be his crutch for him to be able to support himself on. And then there was the sense of paralysis which hindered her from doing either of those things, a feeling she knew all too well from when she had been made a player by the Reaper in Traverse Town and had felt the same wave of emotions wash over her. It was the awkward case where she felt that she ought to be saying something, anything, but no words came over. It had seemed as if the harsh cold outdoors had cooperated with her thoughts and feelings to render her completely useless. It was also shock of seeing Sora look distressed which was probably the first time Luna had ever really seen him in that manner, or at least the farthest he had ever expressed his feelings. Luna suddenly got the feeling that there was yet more to discover behind another layer about him and she had only just tapped the surface. This would make sense if his previous adventures as described in the journal were anything to go by.

Eventually though, Sora was the one to speak up, "It was a trap. Someone used the Heartless to lure us out of that house and then they took the puppies while we were far away. I shouldn't have left the door open."

Luna nodded before answered shakily, "I think we can hazard a guess as to who was behind this as well. I tried to stop the two crooks but they got away. Before that though, they mentioned that 'they were not for sale'. There's really no one else but the De Vil woman who could have orchestrated this."

"But she has the Heartless on her side? Is she working with Maleficent?" Sora asked. It wouldn't have been the first time Maleficent had tried to form a group to take over the worlds.

"Does she have to be working with Maleficent with to use the Heartless?" Luna pondered.

"Not really. I guess she could have just somehow taken control of the Heartless." Sora told her remembering that the Heartless tended to ally with those who were strongest. If Cruella was not working with Maleficent, then it meant that they had another Clayton situation on their hands in which Cruella's rage had essentially corrupted her heart. The sudden appearance of the Heartless suggested that whatever scenario had happened had occurred very recently.

"Suppose," Luna started not sure what to make of this assumption, "that the Heartless weren't being controlled by Maleficent or Cruella, but someone else… like that mysterious guy in the cloak."

Sora admitted that this was possible, and personally, a suggestion Sora most favoured, if the man was in this world. While Sora wasn't one to be clouded by vengeance, he did want answers as to why the man had attacked his islands and so far, he and Luna had received no clue whatsoever as to the whereabouts of the man. Even if he was here, he didn't expect to find him.

"I never thought about that. It's possible, and now that the Heartless are here, they'll be looking for the keyhole." Sora stated hanging his head once again. What were the chances of the Heartless finding the keyhole if the two of them weren't able to? "Even so, Cruella definitely has something to do with this. I'm sure of it."

Luna nodded, "Going back to your 'I shouldn't have left the door open' thing, it really wasn't your fault. I was the last one out so if anything I should have closed it."

Sora was about to argue this point when a knock was heard on the door. Sora and Luna exchanged sympathetic looks before Luna broke this by going into the playroom to check up on the puppies, or was it more the fact that she couldn't face the returning Radcliffes and Pongo and Perdita? Nanny seemed to be upstairs, also moping over the loss so mustering up the courage; Sora stood up and proceeded to the hallway.

He opened the door to be met with smiling faces, "Hello Sora. We've brought some dog food for the puppies. I bet Rolly in particular can't wait to have some." Roger said, a bag full of food obscuring his face.

_Was Rolly even here? _Sora glanced back behind him as he struggled to get the words out, "Listen… Thepuppiesaregone." Sora blurted out really quickly.

"Sorry Sora? I didn't quite catch that. What's a what now?" Anita pressed her hand to her ear.

Sora clutched his hair threatening to just about rip most of it out, "Urgh, don't make me say it again. The puppies are gone."

Roger and Anita expressed looks of confusion on their face while Pongo and Perdita went ahead, no doubt checking up on Sora's claim. "Gone? Gone where? Is Nanny taking them out for a walk in the night again? How reckless could she be?" Roger put the bags down furrowed his brow in frustration.

"What? No! They've been kidnapped. Thirty of them." Sora told the two before ushering them to follow him. They stepped into the room where Luna was in currently along with the other sixty nine puppies. Luna was currently sitting in the corner, entranced by her own feet.

Roger and Anita didn't even need to count the puppies to know what was wrong. The normal position where Lucky and one of the more mischievous puppies, Patch, usually resided by the television was vacant. The slow and stout Rolly was nowhere near his bowl waiting readily for the next meal. The shy and faithful Penny was nowhere near her mother or father either and many others which should have been there but weren't. Anita sank to the floor and started weeping hysterically while Roger's mouth was a left hanging open.

"Pongo boy… I'm sorry." was all Roger could really get out as he tried to comfort the Dalmatian. No doubt this had hit the two parents the hardest as Perdita snuggled into her husband's neck.

Sora couldn't stand to be in the room anymore and silently excused himself. It wasn't as if he was running away, but it was as if the cheery atmosphere the house usually occupied was now gone and the only means of warmth was the cold winter's outside. Sora clasped his hands together as the coldness of snow, yet somehow pleasant, hit him as he exited the house. He had been debating it as soon as he had left the room but somehow, he wasn't that depressed now. Maybe it was because everyone else felt so deprived of happiness that he felt he had to be happy for them. Over previous journeys he had been taught to always get back up no matter the odds. He had learned that from Donald and Goofy, and in turn, helped Riku and Kairi in sharing their pain and soon enough others like Roxas and Ventus.

It seemed leaving that house had knocked some sense into him for he realised that there was no use crying, he didn't have time to waste and Cruella was only going to benefit if he continued to show weakness. After about five minutes of admiring the soft and calming snowflakes descending as if they were just for him, Sora toughened up, walked back in the house and closed the door behind him with a smile on his face showing one brimming of confidence. There was only one thing he had to make sure of.

"Luna." Sora called to the despondent girl who was still in the corner. Hearing his voice, Luna got up and walked slowly over to him. As she passed by, she briefly saw Perdita flash a look of the utmost sadness, and she simply didn't have the strength to look back into the dog's eyes right now.

"There are so many things I should be doing and saying," Luna almost whispered as she joined Sora in the dining room, "I should be supporting them but, I couldn't for some reason. I just ran away and hid when they needed me the most. Like a coward. Is that how someone with a Keyblade is supposed to act?" Luna talked almost as if she despised herself, and Sora couldn't stand it any longer.

"You're not a coward, you're just human. I probably would have done the same had I been fresh off the bat like you… also I felt some sort of responsibility, I'm not sure what it was to be honest but I just felt like I had to tell the truth. Since Nanny and you weren't there, someone had to, that's all there is to it. If Donald and Goofy were here, I probably would have hidden with you and have let them open it instead." Sora chuckled.

Luna however wasn't amused, "No you wouldn't. You would have probably been the only one out of us to still go for it. Even if I were experienced, I doubt I would be able to face them knowing I allowed those two crooks to escape."

Sora looked at her disbelief, "Allowed? You did nothing-"

"Exactly, I did nothing." Luna cut him off.

"No, you did nothing wrong. I wasn't there but given the sudden situation we were in, I probably would have lost them myself. No level of expertise can prepare you for sudden surprises." Sora said.

"You're only saying that though because you want to cheer me up." Luna shook her head, somehow she was still not crying and she wasn't sure why.

"Okay, I had just about enough," Jiminy popped out from Sora's hood and jumped onto his shoulder, "Sora's only trying to help so none of this he just wants to cheer me up business young lady. Secondly, we can all keep wondering about what ifs and how we could have done things better but, the matter of the fact is that it won't change a thing. What's done is done and all we can do is move on."

Sora and Luna glanced on in surprise at Jiminy's insertion into the argument.

Eventually Luna chuckled, "Jiminy Cricket, the voice of wisdom and reason."

"Well, he is Pinocchio's conscious for a reason." Sora chuckled along with her.

"That's his former conscious to you. Pinocchio isn't just some puppet anymore." Jiminy replied. Luna assumed this Pinocchio was just someone close to Jiminy and left it at that, though she couldn't help but wonder why Jiminy had referred to him as a puppet.

"Well, maybe you can be ours," Luna looked back up at Sora, "You and Jiminy are right. There's no use debating over it. We have to concentrate on finding those puppies. Let's go." Luna was about to walk towards the living room when Sora stopped her in her tracks.

"Whoa, slow down there. You're planning on leaving… in the dead of night? By yourself?" Sora asked.

"What do you mean by yourself? You're coming with me right?" Luna attempted to drag him by the arms but Sora easily dodged out of the way.

"Not at this time. I don't know about you but I'm tired." Sora yawned on purpose.

"But what about the puppies? They could be anywhere by tomorrow. We have to start looking for them now." Luna responded.

"Keyblade wielders need patience. Something both you and Sora seriously lack by the way." Jiminy advised though Sora looked back at him scowling.

"Thanks Jiminy, I appreciate it," He said sarcastically before continuing, "Anyway, the problem there Luna is that they could be anywhere right now. There's no guarantee we'll find them in this weather, and I can guarantee even further that we'll probably collapse looking for them. Tomorrow's our best shot, even if we have to spend the whole day looking for them, we'll find them." Sora was confident about this one. He wasn't about to let it slip like the missing keyhole which had still not yet been found.

"Yeah and besides, you can always count on detective Luna to finish what she's started." Luna encouraged back to her frivolous and light-hearted self.

"Exactly, I'm counting on ya detective. Oh and about whether you deserve the Keyblade or not, what do you think?" Sora asked.

"What I think on whether I have the right to wield the Keyblade or not?" Luna repeated. When he nodded, Luna tried to think about it really hard, "Well, as the Keyblade chose me, it must have a reason for doing so. If it believes that I'm worthy, then I can believe that but I'm not really sure what makes me different from any other person. I guess that's just one of the questions I need to find on this long path I'm- I mean we're walking." She corrected herself remembering Sora's promise regarding taking her to the farthest star possible. She had plenty of time to figure it out.

"That's the spirit. For now we should get some sleep to wake up early in the morning. I have a feeling this might take a while." Sora told her and Jiminy. Before that however, Luna realised that she may as well help comfort the family now instead of trying to ignore them so she suggested spending time in the playroom. Nanny eventually joined them and offered her sincerest apologies, however Roger and Anita shook them off placing the blame on no one. They were very understanding considering the situation they were in and mentioned the first thing they needed to do was call the police. Afterwards, Sora and Luna announced to leaving to search for the puppies the first thing in the morning.

"You really don't have to do this you two. I'm sure the police will find them eventually." Roger said after getting off the phone.

"No, you don't understand. We owe you two, Pongo and Perdita so much, at least allow us to fulfil our end of the bargain." Luna answered calmly.

Roger hesitated before saying, "All right, let Anita and I help you out at least."

Luna shook her head firmly, "No. The puppies need you more now than ever. You guys need to be there for them."

"Okay then, if we can't do it, then Pongo and Perdita can. They have more to lose than any of us right now." Anita commented. Pongo and Perdita looked on with hopeful eyes at the two kids who admitted that their senses of detection would definitely be useful though they wondered how much it would be in this kind of weather.

"Why not? Just make sure you two wake up early okay?" Sora laughed rubbing both of them on the head giving way to smiles of appreciation.

* * *

No sooner had the sun risen above the horizon than Sora, Luna, Jiminy, Pongo and Perdita set out down the hill path where Luna had been chasing the two criminals. Sora had said something in Luna's mind the previous night before going to sleep which had been ingrained into her own mind; it was a comment that made her seem suddenly lighter as soon as she had heard it.

"Luna, don't think of the Keyblade as an obligation," Sora had said as they were laying in the same places they had always been for the past few days, "It's not as if a Keyblade Wielder isn't allowed to make mistakes. You're only human after all, but what really counts, and this doesn't just apply to those with the power of the Keyblade, is that you have the strength to get back up. And there's really only one place you can find that power."

_I have just the answer for that. _Luna placed her hand on her chest as she led the way down to the road in which the van had disappeared. As expected when they arrived at the road, the tracks were gone, now covered by the snow however Luna still knew which direction they had gone off in.

"They went down that way." Luna pointed to the right and continued on. Sora couldn't help but admire Luna's newfound sense of leadership. Despite the harshness of the cold, hope filled their hearts. Perhaps that was the effect of Christmas. It was as if their emotions had been intensified and had reflected upon each other. Sora remembered all of his friends and how he had to stay positive for them. He also couldn't help but wonder what he would give them for Christmas? As Sally had once said in Halloween Town anyway, it wasn't so much about the present as it was the act of giving the present.

The road stretched on for miles to what seemed like no end and Sora felt the need to just talk about his previous journeys in the meantime to Luna who was very eager to hear more. He talked about when his islands fell to darkness the first time and when he had arrived at Traverse Town. About how he had searched and searched for Riku and Kairi but to no avail, instead encountering Leon and the gang as well as Donald and Goofy. He finished with his explanation of how he first came across the Dalmatians, Pongo and Perdita, of whom their puppies were not as fortunate as they, for when the world that they were currently in had been lost to the darkness, the puppies had been separated from their mother and father and scattered across the worlds.

"You think that's what's going on now? The Heartless are seeking the keyholes of the world?" Luna asked after Sora finished his lengthy tale.

"It seems that way; otherwise Yen Sid wouldn't have asked us to seal the keyholes." Sora theorised.

"It could just be a precautionary measure though. Didn't he say something about stars not telling him much? Now that I think about it, how can a star tell you anything?" Luna asked and Sora laughed. He was sure that Yen Sid's magic was more powerful than anyone else could ever hope to accomplish.  
"Well, clearly a guy who talks to stars must be pretty mad I'd imagine." Sora quipped.

Luna put her finger to her lips to shush him, "Sora, don't say that… he might be spying on us through the stars."

And so it had come to this, Sora and Luna cracking jokes and joshing around about Yen Sid to pass the time. Therefore, Pongo and Perdita had to pick up the priority in concentrating for their lost puppies.

* * *

Cruella De Vil had been smiling menacingly as soon as she had looked at the front page of the morning paper. On it was the bold and beautiful (in a way to her) headline: **Dognapped**, with a picture of the Radcliffe family in absolute shambles and tears.

She stroked the picture before laughing maniacally, "Oh dear, fifteen puppies stolen, I simply wonder who could have committed such an awful act."

Her laughter continued as she threw away the current newspaper for the next one: **30 Puppies Stolen. **Once again, this included another picture of Roger and Anita but this time with the rest of the puppies. She put her cigarette in her mouth allowing the green puffy smoke roll over the paper.

"Anita and her bashful Beethoven… with pipe included! Hahahaha!" Cruella examined looking at the dampened look on Roger's face while he had his pipe in his mouth before moving on to the next paper, "Oh Roger, you swine. With the power of those creatures on my side, I'll only continue to take from you. More and more until you wished the day you had accepted more offer."

"Is that all you are planning to use the Heartless for? Such a waste." A voice echoed across the room. A dark portal opened up and out stepped Maleficent, a mischievous smile on her face.

Cruella's face turned into one of shock, "Who are you and how did you get in here? I will call the police!" She warned as she made for the phone only to hear it ring before she could reach it.

"You might want to answer that before I divulge to you just who I am," Maleficent advised, "Don't worry, I will not go anywhere."

Cruella scowled before picking up the phone, "Hello? Jasper you fool! I told you not to call me here."

"Listen miss, we don't want no more to do with this. We just want our munny." Jasper said on the other side of the line. Horace was next to him nodding his head while the van with the puppies inside was parked behind them.

"I refuse. You won't earn a single shilling unless you finish off the job." Cruella shouted into the phone making both Jasper and Horace jump. Maleficent felt revolted that she was actually considering offering her help to this woman but two factors needed to be eliminated so it wasn't as if she had any choice.

"But the way you sent those… things with us, it looked as if they were going to rip our heads off. And that girl who was chasin' us down the hill, she was performing all sorts of weird witchcraft or something and not to mention it's all over the papers." Jasper argued.

"Now listen to me here. If you want your munny you will bring those puppies here right now and finish off the job. Do I make myself clear?"

"I really don't like this Jasper." Horace told him however Jasper pushed him further.

"Oh shut up you idiot." He called to his brother; unfortunately this was heard by Cruella who had interpreted as an insult to her.

"What did you say to me!?" Cruella spat in disbelief.

"Uh, not to you miss, never to you. I meant Horace here." Spluttered Jasper before Cruella hung up furiously.

"Why those imbeciles. Anyway, what was it that you wanted?" Cruella asked rudely.

"Do not dare use that tone with me again or your life shall be one of misery. I am Maleficent and I command the Heartless, those creatures which you summoned. It seems as though through your fury, the darkness in your heart intensified and brought the Heartless here-"

"I'm sorry but what the devil are you going on about?" Cruella interrupted, not really sure if this was a joke or serious.

"Were you not the one who summoned the Heartless? Listen to me carefully, the Heartless cannot be so easily controlled by one being or they will eventually devour a heart weak as your own." Maleficent started however Cruella cut her off again.  
"Are you calling me weak?" Cruella snapped her cigarette in half seriously considering sending one of these Heartless creatures at the woman.

"Yes. But you can become more powerful if you join with me and my group. I have assembled those around the worlds to restore the power this realm truly needs," Maleficent spread her arms out, "the power of darkness."

"What in the world are you blubbering on about? Worlds? Darkness? Leave me in peace before I call the police!" Cruella repeated her threat.

"Before you do that, consider this, for now may only be satisfied with your fur coats, but what about the world instead. This whole world can be yours if you join forces with me." Maleficent said.

Now Cruella was interested, "This whole world? Mine?" She thought of it all, her swimming in riches, the royal family fanning Cruella as she was served a bunch of fruit on a comfy majestic chair made of gold and velvet, her own factories spread out across the town and the look on her face as Roger Radcliffe sweated in the heat as he performed the labor of producing wonderful fur coats made out of his own Dalmatians, "Now you have my interest. So how do I go about with this plan?"

"Patience and I will explain all. Do you happen to know a boy named Sora by chance? He also has a friend with him, Luna." Maleficent quizzed.

"I can't say I do know of a Sora. Luna on the other hand, I remember all too well. Roger mentioned her name while she defending those blasted puppies. Just another fool like Roger. So what you're saying is that the boy with her is this Sora?" Cruella asked.

"Indubitably so. These two have a strange power and threaten the progress of the worlds as well your own. They must be dealt with at once." Maleficent said.

"They're just children, how much trouble could they be?" Regardless, Cruella no doubt seemed to find Maleficent calling the world her own so appealing that she picked up the phone once again and called the Radcliffe house.

The phone rang and Roger hoping for some information regarding the puppies was quick in swiping up the phone.

"Hello, inspector? Any news on the puppies?" He asked though soon frowned when he heard the voice on the line.

"Could you be so kindly as to put me on to Anita?" Cruella asked. Roger felt he was about to explode when Anita took the phone of him quickly, his rage giving a hint to who this was.

"Cruella?" She tried to confirm.

"Anita darling! I was reading the newspapers when I noticed the article. Oh, I am so sorry about the puppies, do you have any idea who could have taken them?" Cruella cried in mock sadness.

"Not yet Cruella. We've called Scotland Yard but they haven't a clue right now." Anita informed.

"Has she confessed yet? She is not getting away with this." Roger snarled in the background.

"Roger, stop being so rude to her." Anita glanced at him before looking back in front of her.

"What about the other two? Are they still there with you?" Cruella pursued.

"By other two you mean Sora and Luna? No, they've gone off along with Pongo and Perdy to search for the puppies. Cruella… please don't tell me you had anything to do with this." Anita hoped and Roger gave a harsh laugh at this.

"I swear to you Anita, I had absolutely nothing to do with this abhorrent crime. I will keep my eyes out for those puppies and will update you if I find anything. Speaking of which, we really must catch up sometime Anita, maybe over lunch? Ta-ta for now dear." Cruella said.

"We must, goodbye." Anita said before hanging up the phone, "Roger that was completely unpleasant. Are you always going to act like this around her?"

"Yes, I think I will until she goes to jail. If I had to put all my munny down for who had stolen those puppies, it would be on her." Roger told her.

"She gave me her honest word that she didn't do it Roger." Anita told him.

Roger looked at his wife as if she had grown two heads, "Uh, yes… obviously she would. What, did you expect to her say 'Oh, I stole the puppies and I enjoyed every second of it'?" Roger mimicked Cruella's voice.

"Not to mention the police ruled her out when they investigated her last night, finding no evidence against her whatsoever." Anita defended her friend, seeming pretty sure that Roger just had a grudge against her.

Roger groaned and turned to the window, "I'm so confused right now. What is going on?"

"Me too. We can only hope Sora and the other return with positive results." Anita hugged Roger from behind.

"Don't worry; I'm sure they know what they're doing." Roger said taking Anita's hands into his own.

* * *

"Argh! We're so lost right now!" Sora yelled out loud in frustration. Thankfully they weren't near anyone for them to actually hear Sora, though he considered that exactly the problem. It felt as if they were going nowhere with this search of hours of walking and now Sora was pretty much getting tired, "How about we use the Gummi Ship?"

"How would that help?" Luna asked as she too found herself exhausted. Maybe they should've actually eaten breakfast before going out.

"I don't know. Man, this is annoying, we need to rest." Sora told her.

"Agreed, only one problem. There's nowhere to rest. We're in the middle of nowheresville and we're not even sure if we're going the right way. We have no idea where they could be or where the van is either." Luna's patience was beginning to wear thin yet again. Pongo and Perdita looked at each other being nodding. The two started to howl to Sora and Luna's surprise.

"Whoa, are you two okay?" Sora asked trying to calm them down however they jumped away from him, "What are you two doing?"

"Sora, listen!" Luna said and Sora fell into silence listening closely. They could hear the sounds of other dogs barking in the distance, "They're communicating. Picked anything up guys?"

The barking continued across the entire county until Pongo and Perdita looked back at Sora and Luna before running down the road.

"They've found something. Let's hurry Luna!" Sora grinned; suddenly the world was looking a lot brighter. Luna nodded smiling as well and together, the two ran following the two Dalmatians to their destination.

* * *

**I pretty much had 'Hand in Hand' from KH1 playing when I wrote the end scene, it's such a good piece. **

**Also, a random fact which I actually made up for this, the reason Cruella uses the word 'shilling' in reference to munny is that certain worlds refer to munny as other things. The Estate of the Dalmatians world uses an older British currency so the smaller orbs of munny which you get in the games would be known as shillings here. **


	24. Chasing Shadows

**Sorry for the lack of a constant update, I have Chemistry coming up and pretty much need to focus on studying. Don't worry though, you'll still get your chapters especially since the next chapter is the last of the 101 Dalmatians world. Anyway, enjoy the chapter :)**

* * *

Chapter 24

Chasing Shadows

After travelling through the vast snowy globe in front of him, it became clear to Kupopo the moogle that travelling was not exactly his thing. Carrying a wooden stick attached to a giant pouch full of potions and ethers wasn't exactly an easy thing to accomplish for a moogle while travelling. It didn't really help that he had no idea where he was going.

"The nerve of the humans kupo." He found himself muttering over and over again every few minutes or so, still in disbelief at the events that had occurred the previous night. He had been evicted from the park and told to leave the premises by the police due to what they referred to as a 'disturber of the peace'.

Firstly, he wasn't sure where to even begin with such a description. Sure, he had threatened to hit a dog that was chasing a cat with a frying pan but he honestly had not meant it, he didn't even have a frying pan. It just so happened that their owners had picked up on Kupopo's words as soon as he had said it and instead of giving a warning they sent the police over to remove him from what had been his home for quite some time.

As the moogle sought to cross the road onto what he described as 'no greener than the grass round here', a black van sped through almost running Kupopo over had he not fallen, flattened and plastered himself to the road. The moogle soon got up and threw his arms out in disgruntlement at the close call.

"Silly humans! Can't watch where they're driving kupo!" Kupopo shook with anger before picking up his belongings and continuing across the road. He knew not all humans were like this however for the time being, he believed his sentiments were justified enough. As he now crossed to the over side of the field, he honestly had no idea why he had just done so. Was he hoping to find something different on the other side? Maybe some sort of solace in his thoughts or perhaps even the smallest chance of hope?

Kupopo however only shook his head, "I think I'm going crazy. I need a nap." Regardless of his words, he reluctantly continued, instead turning in the direction of the road as compared to his original destination.

Soon the evening sun showed itself once again as Kupopo became fatigued further and further. His only source of fuel were the few ethers he had to revitalise him and keep him going but eventually he was soon going to run out and in this cold weather it would be completely demanding and stressing to cook more up.

Kupopo had now changed his aims to finding suitable shelter to stay for the night. A farm or if he was lucky, a building of some sort, would be wonderful right about now. He was about to take another step when creatures of shadows rose from the ground. Their yellow eyes staring lifelessly and endlessly into his own.

"Uh, I don't suppose you guys could help a friend out, eh kupo? Heh heh." The moogle laughed nervously. Not just their yellow eyes, but their whole physique seemed intimidating. There were two of these types; one group was the rabid dogs, who were around roughly the same size as the moogle with spiral yellow eyes and were pretty much blue dogs. Kupopo was all the more ready to never see another dog in his life but these seemed pretty different to the type he had seen in the park. The other type was a lot more menacing, Large Bodies. Somehow, Kupopo didn't think he was going to get the help he needed.

"Would you like to buy a potion? AAAH!" The moogle screamed as one of the Large Bodies charged at him. Kupopo flew out of the way as the Large Body made to grab him, each time evading by just a hair. The large bag he was carrying didn't help him in terms of speed, but at least he was safe of the ground from the other creatures.

_This really isn't my week kupo. _Kupopo thought as he buzzed around the almost excited, if possible, Large Body that seemed to really want to play.

Sora, Luna, Pongo and Perdita who had been journeying with an abundance of hope after Pongo and Perdita had alerted other dogs to their mission, came across upon the strange sight in front of them after finding their way around an ice cold river. Kupopo, who saw the humans in the distance, squealed in delight before trying to race over to them.

"Help me kupo!" The moogle screamed as he flew as quickly as his heavy weight would allow him. He eventually met up with the four and hid behind Sora.

"We've got it." Sora said summoning his Keyblade and running towards the Rapid Dogs. He dispersed them with swiftness while Luna guarded as the Large Body tried to ram into her. Luna swivelled around and blitzed into the Large Body, knocking it down before finishing it with a few fire casts. Sora high jumped over the last Large Body, flipped and dived into the Large Body's back with his Keyblade and then finishing off with a shockwave, slamming his Keyblade into the ground and vanquishing the Heartless.

"All done," Luna said looking back to the moogle before she became wide-eyed, "Do I know you from somewhere? You look familiar? Then again, all moogles kind of do…"

Kupopo looked back at Luna's face for the first time before horror spread across his face, "Oh no. This really isn't my week. You're telling me you don't remember what you did to me in the park kupo?" Kupopo asked.

"The… park?" Luna said thinking back before clicking her fingers, "Oh yeah, it's you. I really am sorry for that, uh, kupo?"

"Kupopo actually and I warn you kupo, I am not the cute little plaything you believe me to be. I know some dangerous moves." Kupopo eyed her once again with the same look he gave her in the park.

"Really? The way I saw it, you were crying and calling for help." Sora grinned while putting away his Keyblade and joined the two in their conversation.

The moogle went a quick pink as he somehow managed to contain the slowly bubbling anger from emerging to the surface.

"Whatever, listen kupo. The fact of the matter is that she squeezed my nose rather harshly and could have probably done more given enough time." Kupopo told him pointing at Luna before rubbing his precious nose softly.

"This again? Look, she didn't mean to and in her defence, she had never really seen a moogle before. Okay, maybe she did see one other moogle possibly but that's it plus she saved you from those Heartless." Sora informed him.

"Heartless? Those things kupo? Well they did look rather weird." Kupopo contemplated deciding that yes, Luna had indeed saved him and he did actually appreciate that.

"Also, isn't Christmas all about forgiving and forgetting? So let's all start over and be friends now." Sora gave a warm smile while moving him slightly closer to Luna.

Kupopo hesitated for a moment before sighing, "Alright, I forgive you. But don't do it again."

"Thanks Kupopo. I won't do it again." Luna beamed shaking the moogle's tiny hand.

Sora however, didn't find this the time to stop and have a friendly chat, "Right, gotta go. Have fun, see ya." He rushed quickly before starting back with Pongo and Perdita down the road.

Luna was about to turn around when Kupopo flew in front of her, obscuring her view of Sora and the Dalmatians, "Wait a minute, can I travel with you two kupo? I got kicked out of the park by those awful people but you don't seem all that bad."

Sora and Luna looked on in sympathy before Sora spoke up, "I don't see why not, we'll let you tag along. The more the merrier. By the way, we're looking for a black van, have you seen it?"

"Yeah, one almost ran me over just now. What of it?" Kupopo asked.

"I'd say their destination is close by," Luna told Sora who was perplexed at how she came to such a confusion. Luna, picking up this sense of being lost from Sora, which was easier than imagined given the flustered look on Sora's face, explained her thoughts, "These were the first Heartless we've encountered since yesterday. So either the person responsible is using Heartless to protect themselves or sees us as a threat and is sending them at us to get rid of us. Furthermore, if we're assuming that van to be the same one, then they've been driving much more slowly since we shouldn't have been able to catch up with them. So I'm guessing they're either tired, or nearing their destination."

"In other words, I should just leave all the thinking to you. Great work Luna." Sora said extremely impressed though he couldn't help but feel Luna was trying to show off. He would know since he took pride in doing it at times, even just to annoy Donald.

"So… where do you think they would be?" Luna asked, a coy smile forming.

"Uh, why would I know that? They could be anywhere? I mean you said they were close by but… oh." Sora turned his head to where Luna had set her eyes on and saw what was likely to be where the crooks were going. A gloomy, dark and old manor, looming over the vast amount of trees which encompassed the area. Opaque, thick smoke rose from the chimneys and plagued the sky above, making the manor much of an anomaly to the human eye.

"I guess it makes sense. Creepy old house for a creepy old hag." Sora said before continuing on along with Pongo and Perdita.

"You're talking about the De Vil woman right?" Luna asked as she and Kupopo followed from behind.

"Who else? It's obvious that she's behind it, even if we don't have proof," Sora was about to take another step when more Heartless popped up in front of them, "Your little guess may just be right Luna. Kupopo, stay behind us at all times, got it?"

"You don't have to worry about that one kupo. I'll just pretend I'm not here." Kupopo answered.

"Well good luck with that." Sora said. He summoned his Keyblade along with Luna and together the two charged in at the Heartless.

* * *

The groups of Heartless only increased in numbers as Sora and Luna fought their way to Hell Hall, the home of a certain 'hag' as Sora had earlier described her. Surprising to the two, Pongo and Perdita also had some moves under their belt as they attacked or held off the smaller Heartless long enough for Sora and Luna to finish them. The Heartless groups consisted of Shadows, Rapid Dogs, Large Bodies and the elemental disasters, specifically the Red Nocturnes and Green Requiem which appeared the most out of the Heartless identified. The Green Requiems in particular were quite annoying as they tended to spread out across the area and heal the other Heartless from afar. Including that they absorbed all elemental spells and were highly evasive, more so than Sora could remember, made them a dangerous opponent that had to be dealt with immediately.

Sora chose to stay close to Luna and offer advice on taking on the mobs such as dealing with the healing Heartless first. Together, they were able to only just catch the Green Requiems in a closed off space near trees and took them out before focusing on the Heartless. Kupopo hid behind the trees and advanced only after Sora and Luna had defeated each wave of Heartless.

Eventually they got to the locked gate of Hell Hall; its somehow demoralising nature was a lot more lucid close up though it was too late to turn back anyhow. Through the bars of the gate, Luna could spot the van in question.

"Finally, now if only we could get in. Pongo, Perdita and Kupopo could probably fit through but I don't think we can." Luna said tugging at the bars. Her annoyance was justifiable at least considering it had taken them a whole day to get where they were right now. Sora and Luna were still hungry from their long journey but they could wait a while, the only problem was that it would take just as long to get back to the Radcliffe's.

"Again, Keyblade." Sora pointed out in an obvious tone before pointing his Keyblade at the padlock. A beam of light struck the Keyhole and a click was heard.

"Right. I really need to remember that huh?" Luna laughed off before making to undo the chains aiding the lock. After taking them off, Luna pushed slowly, just enough for Luna and Sora to be able to squeeze through without causing too much noise from the loud creaking of the gate being opened.

Sneaking up to one of the windows, Luna and Sora peered through observing what appeared to be a rather warm and cosy room with three figures conversing near a fireplace, yet also having the adverse effect on Sora and Luna who felt the atmosphere of the room to be similar to the exterior of the building. More importantly however, in front of them were the thirty missing puppies. Sora put his finger to his lips to tell the two parents to be quiet before signalling them over. The sight of the puppies seemed to make them delighted though they knew that they needed a plan. First off though, Sora and Luna listened in on the three's conversation.

"It has got to be done tonight. No excuses!" The voice of Cruella De Vil spoke at least confirming Sora and Luna's thoughts about the culprit.

_What a surprise. _Sora thought sarcastically to himself before focusing back on the conversation.

"Can't we just wait until the program's finished though? I don't see the rush in it all." Jasper said with Horace nodding along with him.

"No! It absolutely cannot wait. When I come back by tomorrow I'd better see a bunch of dead puppies. You didn't even bring all of them. You have no right to rest until the job's finished. Unless you'd rather face _them_." Cruella appeared to click her fingers and a second later, Heartless appeared confirming yet another of Sora and Luna's suspicions.

"Yes ma'am." Jasper and Horace squealed quickly in unison. As Cruella made for the door, Sora and Luna had to duck in order to avoid being spotted.

"Also, the Heartless will be staying to search for the keyhole. Try not to cower out of this and do not screw this up." Cruella's final words seemed to have struck a chord with Sora. Before he could reiterate his thoughts into speech, Cruella walked outside of the house and slammed the door shut behind her. Sora, Luna, Pongo, Perdita and Kupopo went around the corner of the house to avoid detection. Thankfully, Cruella had paid little attention to the crunching of the snow and immediately made for the gates, no doubt to open them. Of course as they were already open, Sora and Luna didn't know if Cruella would assume that Horace and Jasper had left it open by accident or that there was someone else inside the premises. What they did know however, is that she would definitely notice.

Being something that they could not afford to chance, Sora raised his Keyblade and pointed at Cruella. Another beam of light shot out of his Keyblade and stunned her, causing her to fall into the snow.

"Sora!" Luna whispered loudly quite stunned herself at what had just taken place, how many things could the Keyblade really do? Was there no limit?

"I can see that smile on your face." Sora commented grinning. Luna's slight smile turned into a big one as she sunk into the comforts of the snow.

"Okay, I was surprised. Anyway, we need to get those puppies out. We need a distraction of some sort while we get the puppies out of there, but how?" Luna pondered. Almost as soon as she had finished had Sora jumped up and used fire magic smashing the window.

"Hey, you have something that belongs to our friends. I think we'll be taking them back now." Sora yelled jumping through the window and getting into his battle stance as Jasper and Horace jumped up from the couch in fright.

"I suppose that could work," Luna said to herself debating whether she had agreed with Sora's rather irrational and spontaneous choice, "Okay. You guys get those puppies out while we stall, okay?" Luna told Kupopo, Pongo and Perdita who agreed without discussion and jumped, or in Kupopo's case flew, in to the broken window.

Luna jumped through as well and got into her battle stance as well, "Remember me? The 'magpie' that chased you down in the woods? Well she's finally found ya."

"Jasper, I think we should be going-" Horace started but Jasper smacked him across the head.

"Listen here, we are not running away from these lots."

"We're not running, but the puppies are. Look." Horace pointed to the puppies running out of the door with Pongo staying by the door in order to make sure all the puppies were gone. Jasper and Horace made to chase after them however Sora and Luna weren't about to let that happen. Sora used strike raid, knocking Horace onto the floor.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sora pointed his Keyblade at Horace who quivered in fear at the sight of the blunt yet powerful object.

Jasper grabbed a crowbar from underneath the couch and proceeded to swing violently and recklessly at Luna. Luna dropped to the floor and grabbed his legs in order to try and tackle him to the ground.

"Hey little missy, now get off me." Jasper could only poke at her with his crowbar as he found even the slightest attempt at moving extremely difficult. Though this thought mattered little considering a few second later, with a forceful tug, Luna managed to pull down the lanky thief.

Jasper's determination squirmed and kicked his way out only ended in failure as Luna kept her hold even through being thrashed about. The last of the puppies had now gone and Pongo barked to indicate this before heading off to support Rolly, who was slightly behind the rest.

Knowing their careers would be over if Cruella found out, Jasper struggled while Horace threw himself behind the couch for cover while Sora had turned for a second to check on Pongo. Horace was about to help Jasper to fend off the attached Luna when he heard a noise.

"Jasper, it's them!" Horace's warning fell on deaf ears however, as Shadows popped up from the ground causing the two to engage in a shriek of hysterics.

Luna detached herself from Jasper and backed up to the wall. As Shadows threw themselves at her she knocked them away with her Keyblade. Sora also took to action, slashing through each Shadow, although more only seemed to pop up from the ground.

Jasper and Horace, who had raced to hug each other in the corner of the room soon realised what this interference of the Heartless meant, or at least Jasper had for Horace looked as if he were about to faint.

"Wait a minute Horace. This gives us a chance to nick them puppies back. Let's go." Jasper told him. Horace agreed as he would rather be out looking for puppies than in a room with mysterious creatures anyway and the two composed themselves before quietly sneaking out of the door.

"They don't stop coming," Sora complained taking out another of the infinite spawn of Shadows that now seemed to take over the room. He looked at the spot where Horace and Jasper should have been and he slapped his hands against his forehead, "Those two crooks are gone!"

Luna looked around the room, having little time beforehand, "Forget these things then. Let's just go after them."

Sora nodded and took out the Shadows standing in his and Luna's way. The two barged out of the room in a loud racket causing Jasper and Horace to jump. They now were in the entrance hall with quite expensive pottery and furniture. A flight of steps seemed to lead up to other rooms in the manor. Jasper grabbed what looked like a rather expensive and well furbished coat stand next to him and ran at Sora trying to swing at him. Sora ducked underneath and raised his Keyblade up cutting into the metal of the stand and slicing it off in half.

"Fine, we give up. You can have the stinking puppies for all we care." Jasper dropped the last part of the stand knowing when to give up.

"I told you this was a bad idea Jasper." Said Horace however Jasper stared at him coldly.

"Oh shut up you moron." An angry Jasper responded.

"Great to see you've realised the error of your ways. Now I just need you guys to answer one more question, how does Cruella know about the keyhole? Did Maleficent come to visit her?" Sora questioned.

"Maleficent? Who in the world is that? Also we don't know nothin' bout this keyhole except for what she already told us. That she was sent the Heartless to search for this keyhole. What's so special about one anyway?" Jasper answered uncouthly staring at the Keyblade in Sora's hand as if it were some alien object.

"So then she is working with Maleficent then. That's the only way she could have known about the keyhole." Sora confirmed looking at Luna.

"Isn't she outside? How about we just tie her up or something and question her?" Luna asked.

"Maybe, but not here. Somehow, I don't think she owns this place anymore and our new residents don't exactly seem on the hospitable side either." Sora remarked as the Shadows popped up filling the room.

"Kupo!" Kupopo flew into the room seeming to ignore the shadows before stopping at Sora and Luna, "We've got a bit of trouble at the gate. That woman you attacked has gotten up and those creatures are there."

"Well, that stun was only temporary and for a short amount of time." Sora revealed.

"What? You think you can mention that before you do it next time?" Luna said in disbelief as Sora grinned sheepishly at his neglect to mention the detail.

"I guess that was the most important part huh? Anyway, we need to fight our way out here and get to-"

"Kupo, behind you!" Kupopo shouted. Sora turned but did not have a quick enough reaction time to guard the swipe by the Heartless nor had Luna had the time to react to it. Instead, Kupopo flew up to one of the jars on the cupboards above and pushed the jar over. A resounding smash was heard as the Jar took out the Shadow and soon after broke into pieces.

"Thanks Kupopo, you're a life saver." Sora grinned. Together the three ran out of the door leaving Jasper and Horace in a frightened state as the Heartless gathered around the room.

"Wait, what about-" Jasper was about to say but it was too late as the door closed behind them.

Sora and Luna took out the Heartless as they made their way back to the gate and saw what the problem seemed to be. The gate was now locked once again and Rolly was stuck in between the bars and could not seem to get free.

"Luna, you help push Rolly out. I'll take care of these Heartless." Sora told her and she nodded rushing to help. Sora turned around at the spot where Cruella should have been and noticed she was now missing. Right now though, his priority was defending Luna and Rolly. Sora through several strike raids at groups of Shadows and simply took out the Shadows that had advanced at a close proximity.

"Great, I feel like I'm fighting a thousand Heartless again. Anytime Luna would be just great!" He called as he used stun impact on a group of Shadows that had appeared near him to stun them before wiping them out with drain dive.

"I'm trying. Diet for me once we get out of this will ya Rolly?" Luna grunted as she used her shoulders to slide Rolly out.

Rolly finally sprung free and Kupopo was to follow next. Luna looked at her Keyblade before pointing it at the padlock. Light shot out of her Keyblade hitting the keyhole and a click was heard.

"It works!" Luna complimented herself by pumping her fists into the air before undoing the chains and pulling the heavy-weighted gate open with much difficulty.

Sora turned back and followed her out of the gate before both pushing to close it.

"Few, I was just about ready to give up back there. Doesn't help that I'm starving." Sora told her and Luna agreed with laughter.

"Where's Cruella?" Luna asked.

"No idea, she locked the gate back up. Either way, we have to get moving before she finds us." Sora told her.

"We left Jasper and Horace in there; do you think that was right?" Luna asked.

"I'm sure they'll be fine. The Heartless didn't seem to take much interest in them. Maybe Cruella told them not to go after them. Still, that's just a guess." Sora said.

"Let's just move on. I don't want to stay at this creepy place for another minute." Jiminy said inside of Sora's hood.

"I agree, maybe we can hitch a ride if we're lucky." Sora said to everyone including the Dalmatians before he told Luna to stay at the back while he lead in the front.

* * *

Jasper and Horace emerged from Hell Hall, coughing and wheezing as if being in the room with the Shadows had been some sort of disease.

"What do we do now Jasper?" Horace asked.

"Leave this place for one. Live in the country somewhere since she's going to call the police on us. Heck, maybe she won't even find out." Jasper told him.

"Who won't find out?"

The two froze in their tracks as they felt the icy grasp of Cruella's hands on their shoulders.

"Oh, ma'am… what a pleasant surprise this is." Jasper tried to strike friendly conversation but it was already clear this wasn't going to work.

"Get in the van, now! We're going after those puppies. So help me I will hunt down every last one of them and you will not run from this." Cruella hissed.

"But ma'am-" Horace tried to object.

"SILENCE! In the van. Now." She repeated letting go of both of them. It seemed that they would be in her grasp for quite some time, both literally and metaphorically.

* * *

**So now we seem to have a new member of the group, though he won't actually be involved in other worlds. You'll see what I'll be planning for him in the next chapter. Also the chapter after the next chapter will be focusing on Donald and Goofy's mission to Disney Castle and that will definitely be interesting so watch out for that. **


	25. Lost and Found

**First of all, Merry Christmas everyone or Happy Holidays. It took me a while to get this out since I just felt like finishing school and all the homework that came with it, but now I'm done I finally had time to work on this. Secondly, it seems that the KH HD collection is coming out in March in Japan so hopefully we'll get it soon after. Anyway, enjoy the next chapter and have a great holiday. **

* * *

Chapter 25

Lost and Found

No sooner had they found themselves on track than had they realised the journey back was going to be even more difficult than the journey to. For one, Luna was sure that Cruella would be out looking for them by now and regardless of Sora telling her that he had it 'all handled', she wasn't exactly sure what was to be handled, or how it was going to be handled for that matter. There was no possible way Sora could have planned for a contingency such as this to arise and if he did, his stomach made suggestions otherwise.

That was the next problem. They were tired and hungry with no house or inn in sight. The closest had been a ways off from Hell Hall, and Sora in particular wasn't sure if he was willing to risk that trip in his current state of fatigue. He planned to find shelter, any shelter would be better than none at all. Yet again, that was easier said than accomplished. Sora hoped that by straying of the path of the road, they'd find a suitable place to stay for the night though as they were now, they had yet to find one.

The final problem resided in the amount that was travelling. It would be a lot easier to spot thirty puppies, two dogs, a moogle and two humans than if it were just the five like previously. It also slowed them down and the implications of this were soon shown when the black van and Cruella's car behind it, drove across the road in search for the group of raiders.

_Well at least Jasper and Horace are fine. Argh, I can't believe I'm thinking that. _Sora thought as he stood and watched the puppies struggle more and more through the equally as effective snow in terms of lack of pace.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing Sora? They're all tired-"

"I'm trying okay? Look, this isn't exactly an easy thing to decide but it's better than staying on the road." Sora fumed as he turned to Luna. Luna understood his frustration, so she need not have said anymore regarding it. All she could do was hope that where they were going would eventually lead to a warm and cosy resting place.

She soon got her wish as Kupopo was one of the first to point out, albeit silently so as not to evoke attention from anyone close, a barn in the middle of what should have been a bright green field, but instead was almost unrecognisable due to the whiteness which blanketed it.

"I don't think anyone has any objections about finding some cover for the night kupo?" Kupopo seemed to take the lead as he left Sora and Luna in the dust heading off for the barn.

"Uh, no, not us," Sora looked to Luna who nodded her head in a cartoonish manner, "Hey, wait up will ya." Together Sora and Luna headed past the Dalmatians to open the barn door. They could hardly contain their excitement for finally they had a place to rest and recover from their exhaustion. The lack of food was a worry although for now they were content with what they had.

Sora jumped straight into a pile of hay in the corner in the back, seeming to want to dive straight into slumber. Luna chuckled as she watched the rest of the puppies come in followed by Pongo and Perdita. Closing the barn door, Luna sat beside the barn door eventually laying down and crawling into the position of a ball.

"Goodnight everyone." She said trying to find a suitable comfort zone to lie down.

"Night Luna." Sora and Kupopo said. Luna doubted they would have fallen asleep that quickly, well, maybe Sora but she wasn't even sure if moogles could sleep in the first place, or even get tired. As she slowly closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, she neglected to take notice of the moving shadow sinking into the floor from the corner of her eyes.

The first signs of light crawled into the barn and Luna, sensing the rays of warmth parallel from her, slowly opened her eyes and yawned silently. Not surprisingly, she had found it ridiculously hard to get sleep which she assumed was due to the fact that her stomach had been constantly rumbling throughout the night because she hadn't eaten. Still she had picked up on what little of sleep she had been able to manage and she felt it was enough to carry her to the Radcliffe's house. She just didn't feel like moving.

_Did I wake up early? Maybe a little more sleep would do… _Luna thought figuring it probably would do good to get a bit more rest. She was actually surprised to see that Sora was able to sleep well seeing that he had been complaining the most last night about food. She supposed his need for sleep had been greater though he had barely mentioned it in comparison. Well, she was glad to know at least someone was getting some decent rest.

Luna was about to close her eyes again when she heard two voices coming from outside the barn. Two familiar voices.

"No! Not now." Luna whispered summoning her Keyblade and flattening her back against the wall to the side of the barn door. She feared if she called to Sora, the two, whose voices were nearing ever closer, would hear and perhaps change their plan. Her best hope was that, they had no idea that they were there. The other puppies were hidden throughout the stacks of hay at the back so she could probably get the jump on the two before they noticed Sora, Kupopo and the Dalmatians.

"'Ere puppies. Come on." Jasper opened the door and peered inside. Luna supposed if there was any chance to do this, it would have to be now.

"Sora, wake up!" Luna yelled before springing from her cover and knocking Jasper away with Dream Seeker.

"But mommy, I don't wanna go to school today." Sora muttered with his eyes still closed.

"Seriously Sora, you have got to be kidding me." Luna didn't have time to laugh however for Horace had stormed into the barn. He tried to attack with a crowbar in his hand but Luna jumped back just barely dodging and pulled off a ground combo, sending him crashing into the barn door. The source of the noise seemed to wake up Pongo and Perdita, who barked for the puppies.

"At least they aren't lazy." Luna told Sora as she closed in on his waking form. Sora stretched and lifted himself up.

"What's the problem Luna?"

_Hmm, does he even realise what he just said? Or is he trying to not bring it up? _Luna smiled coyly at this but did nothing further to bring this up. After all, this wasn't the time or place to do so.

"Horace and Jasper have found us. We need to get moving." Luna said. Kupopo jumped out of the hay he was sleeping in and spun around erratically for a few seconds.

"I'm up and ready kupo."

"Good. Let's get moving." Sora took charge once more now seeming to be brimming with more energy than ever, quite a feat considering he hadn't eaten in a day.

The group continued out of the barn, running quickly past the pained Horace and Jasper who could hardly stand let alone chase after the group. Sora chose to head east from their current location, once again in hopes of finding a vehicle which would take them to safety. He didn't have to look for long either.

It had been about fifteen minutes of half walking and half running before they came across the small village of Dinsford which seemed like a run-of-the-mill kind place pretty disconnected to the outside world. It was interesting, Sora found, that even the worlds were so disconnected; the places inside the world seemed to be of the same status. Though like the rest of the world, the residents of this village still seemed to be tucked into their cosy beds or at least starting to get up.

A bark was heard from the distance and a dog soon came running up to Pongo and Perdita. After the dog had finished talking Pongo and Perdita looked at each other happily and barked back.

"Uh, translation?" Sora asked.

"They're saying they've found a vehicle that's going past the Radcliffe house, whatever that is Kupo." Kupopo told them.

"Right…" Sora paused for a moment before suddenly turning on his heels in shock along with Luna, "Wait, you can understand them?!"

"I speak dog kupo. Comes in handy when you've lived in a park for most of your life. What, can't humans understand them?" Kupopo snickered. Sora resisted the urge to smack the moogle across his head and instead placed his hands behind his head.

"And you never told us this… why?" Sora asked.

"Never mind that. If you can speak dog Kupopo, get in the conversation." Luna pushed the moogle over to the dogs where he started to converse with Pongo and the other dog.

"It doesn't look like he's talking dog. I can still understand him." Sora said.

"Hmm, say Sora. Why can Goofy talk but not these dogs?" Luna asked. This questioned seemed to catch Sora and his breath. He had never really thought about it before. It was the same with Pluto and Goofy. Though once you asked that question, you may as well have asked why Goofy could stand and dogs like Pluto couldn't.

"No idea." He answered having a broad grin on his face. Luna had absolutely no idea why he was smiling and kept looking to and fro from Sora and the dogs, not sure if she was missing something.

Kupopo eventually came back to them, "We need to hurry up kupo. The van is leaving in a few minutes. A trip back to the house will probably be two hours from here at most."

"Sounds good. I'm still not happy you kept that little ability from us though." Sora told him in passive anger. Who would ever choose to leave out such a detail anyway?

The group walked through what was a rundown vacant building. Cobwebs covered the ceiling and shards of shattered glass from the broken window above were lying across the floor. It seemed that the house had been the victim of a fire as walls and furniture seemed to be scorched and tarnished.

"Here we are," Luna peered through the window across the street to see the van with its engine already started, "we need to hurry."

"As I said kupo." Kupopo sighed seeming pretty annoyed that Luna had just repeated his own words as if she hadn't heard his in the first place.

"Right, so the puppies go first, then Pongo and Perdita, then Kupopo and finally we'll go after you." Sora told them. It seemed like a reasonable suggestion considering the main reason they had come was to take back the puppies in the first place.

"I'd have Perdita go on ahead with them actually, just in case something bad happens and we can't follow them, at least they have their mother." Luna advised and Sora nodded seeing the sense in her reasoning. Even if he had objected, it would have been null and void because as soon as they heard the horn of a car behind them, they knew they had to hurry.

Sora looked out of the house to see just barely Cruella De Vil driving past slowly in her automobile and Horace and Jasper driving behind her.

"Time for some sabotage," Sora whispered to Luna. He soon turned back to Kupopo, "Make sure they all get on to the van safely."

"You've got it!" Kupopo seemed pumped up and flew around in circles. Perdita jumped out of the window and moved quickly to van. The puppies then jumped out one at a time and hurried to their mother before jumping into the back of the van.

Sora was the first hurry outside and aimed a fire at the back of Horace and Jasper's van. The van swerved left and right before eventually crashing into Cruella's car.

"What are you bumbling fools doing. I could drive better than you." Cruella yelled for the driver's seat turning behind her. Soon she caught sight of Sora and clicked her fingers and a bunch of Deserters appeared. Sora had never seen this type of Heartless before either but they seemed similar enough to the Soldier Heartless except for the fact that these had a green coat of painting on them.

"And this is where I come in." Luna whispered to herself jumping in and taking out on of the Deserter Heartless which was running around near the entrance. What she or Sora did count on, is the different behaviour pattern of these Heartless. It seemed that whenever one of their kind was attacked, the others would group together to perform a counterattack, that being a series of kicks. And so Luna was taken by surprise and knocked into the wall.

"Luna! You okay?" Sora asked though he already knew what the answer would be. It seemed to take another flurry of kicks, this time with Sora, to come to the realization that they would counterattack if one of them was taken out. Still, there were only four of them left so at least, the pain would be less each time.

_Argh, what a horrible way to look at it. _Sora laughed inside before jumping to Luna and helping her up. The Deserters seemed to pretty much ignore the two anyway and instead took to running around so as long as Sora and Luna kept their distance they would be safe.

"My shoulder," Luna winced as she rolled her arms in circles, "It'll be fine. Let's just deal with these things."

Cruella drove slowly turning into the road where the Dalmatians while Horace and Jasper, who were afraid to be anywhere near the Heartless, followed behind in their just as busted up vehicle. Sora and Luna took to using long range attacks, Sora using strike raid and Luna using blizzard and thunder, stunning them and taking them out the rest of the Deserters quickly.

Sora and Luna ran back into the burnt building to see that only a few more puppies were left to get across the street. They seriously doubted Cruella wouldn't have noticed, if not by now then she would eventually.

"Quickly, get the rest across, we'll distract them." Luna ordered. The window seemed like it would make an excellent sniping spot from where Sora and Luna could annoy the trio of villains.

Soon enough, the last puppy left was of course, Rolly, who had trouble even getting out of the window in the first place, however fortunately Pongo was there to help the puppy up together the two crossed out across the street.

"And there's Cruella." Sora as her car came closer towards the van. It seemed that she hadn't spotted Pongo and Rolly yet for they had been keeping low to avoid detection but that could easily change at any moment.

"Allow me to handle this kupo." Kupopo buzzed out of the window and flew straight to Cruella, attaching himself to her face.

"Ah! I can't see! Get this confounded thing off me!" Cruella screamed letting go of the steering wheel to try and throw whatever it was that was on her face off. Jasper and Horace who weren't looking nor wondering why Cruella had suddenly slowed, crashed into her car knocking Cruella forwards and throwing Kupopo off into the road. Sora and Luna jumped out of the window and ran towards the moogle. On their way to him, they saw the van start to depart and while they were glad Pongo had managed to get Rolly and himself into the moving vehicle, Sora and Luna really had to move if they were to catch up.

"Gotcha! Great job Kupopo." Sora praised grabbing the moogle from the snowy ground and racing past Cruella, Horace and Jasper. Sora jumped onto the van and made way for Luna to do so too before he released Kupopo and let him rest.

"Boy am I dizzy kupo." Kupopo twirled around seeing stars above his head causing Sora and Luna to laugh.

As the van left Cruella behind with the puppies inside, she seethed with fury. The darkness beginning to pulsate once more across her body. Maleficent, the evil fairy, had told her that if she allowed the darkness to take hold of her heart, she would be subjected to downfall however at this point she didn't care. Was she, Cruella De Vil, to let a bunch of fools blindside her and knock her off what was to be her rising pedestal? If she had the power of darkness at her side, no one would dare trouble her again. She laughed maniacally, a laughter that roared across the village in such a way that if there were still those who hadn't woken up before, they would have now. Her darkness attracted the Heartless, though she paid no mind to them, she only let them embrace her and devour her, and Jasper and Horace could only stare on in fright.

* * *

"Looks like we're home free." Sora relaxed in his spot and grinned. The van had now driven off into the main road and passed by what would have been a beautiful green countryside had Sora and Luna arrived in the summer.

"I wouldn't be too sure about." Luna halted Sora's moment of triumph looking out of the van. A car about half the size of the van was racing towards them, and from the looks of it, it wasn't just any car either.

"I think we have a problem. A big problem and it is heading right towards us." Luna readied her Keyblade and shot a fire at the Heartless Car, but it evaded and instead shot rockets at the van.

"Huh? Whoa!" Sora sprang into action knocked the rockets away from the van. They exploded a ways off but Sora and Luna had no time to admire the explosion for the car (or Phantom Engine) was soon back on the offensive.

"It's going to ram us!" Luna warned as the Phantom Engine Heartless increased in its speed.

"Oh no you don't." Sora said and quickly blitzed into the car, knocking it backwards and slowing it down. It felt rather awkward to fight in a van with so little space but there wasn't much other choice.

The Phantom Engine zoomed forward to catch up with the van and opened its mouth. A cannon came out of its mouth and targeted the van.

"This can't be good." Sora groaned. A cannonball was ejected and shot but missed due to a sudden increase in speed from the van. It had seemed that the driver had realised that he was being attacked by the Heartless (if he even knew it was one) and had decided to increase in speed.

It seemed however that the car would do whatever it took to thrash and knock Sora and Luna out of the van. Another vehicle soon emerged from behind the Phantom Engine; it was Horace and Jasper's van which looked an absolute compared to when they had last seen it.

"There's those two, so where's Cruella?" Luna asked.

Sora made to squint closely at the Heartless car in question, "Maybe, that's Cruella's car. A Heartless might have gotten her. She did seem to have a lot of darkness in her heart. It's like with the Queen of Hearts except this time; you're seeing what happens when a person goes really far."

Luna looked on in surprised sympathy, "You think she can come back?"

"I wouldn't count on it. Once you go that far it's hard to come back." Sora answered as the car fired off another cannonball.

"So welcoming, isn't she?" Sora grinned playing baseball and knocking the cannonball of into the snowy field.

The next few seconds, the car fired off several rounds of cannon fire but Sora and Luna worked their hardest to repel each one.

"Excuse me for a minute Luna." Sora said soon jumping out of the van, on to the Phantom Engine and then high jumped onto Jasper and Horace's van.

"Are you crazy?!" Luna asked astonished before retaining her composure and trying to slow the Heartless down by throwing strike raids at it.

"Good work Luna! Keep doing that." Sora shouted to her from atop the roof of the van.

"Jasper, I honestly think we should get outta here before-"

"Oh calm it Horace. You saw what she did back there. What if she does it again?" Jasper argued swerving to knock Sora off the van.

Sora fell on to the side of the van but grabbed the ledge and continued to hold on as much as possible, he could feel himself slipping however. Luna's strike raids seemed to be doing effectively well until the car got back to a certain distance, where she found she always missed by aiming at a lower trajectory than needed.

"Urgh, not now Luna." She mentally hit herself as her frustration increased.

"Luna, calm down and focus. Now hit the darn thing!" Sora shouted near the end as the three cars approached a cliff-hugging road spiralling downwards.

"Ignoring your shouting, I'm trying to do that." Luna muttered before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath before opening her eyes. She threw Dream Seeker three times, each hitting the car successfully and the last being enough to flip it and knock it back to where Sora was.

"Wind." Sora thrust his Keyblade into the air creating a tornado just before the car could land, heaving it up in to the air. Sora kicked his feet off the Van and flung himself into the tornado. Charging his Kingdom Key, he waited until he hovered just above the car before plunging down. The bright glowing Key sunk into the metal of the car and sent it plummeting back to earth, damaging it beyond repair. Sora flipped back onto the black van and climbed up only to soon regret what he had just done. He watched as the heart was sent back into the sky but soon fell of the van when it flipped and fell of the mountain path.

"SORA!" Luna screamed as their van distanced itself from the crash farther and farther. Luna looked backed to the Dalmatians and Kupopo before jumping out of the van and fell to the ground rolling across the road.

She had no time to register the pain in her leg, nor did she care if she had sprained it. Right now, she had to see if Sora was okay. She limped back up the road to the site of the crash; the adrenaline seeming to running right threw her supplying her with the energy she needed to get to him.

"Sora? Are you alright? Please be alright!" Luna yelled as she searched the wreckage for Sora. Nothing.

"Urgh, well wasn't that something huh?"

Luna turned around to see Sora lying down by the edge of the cliff, a grin on his face.

"Sora!" Luna grinned in delight as she went over to hug him. She only got so far before the pain set in and she fell next to him.

"Don't tell me you jumped out of the moving vehicle Luna. You don't watch movies?" Sora laughed.

"And why are you laughing when I've sprained my ankle exactly? I don't find that quite funny," Luna grunted as she held her leg. Eventually though she laughed with him regardless if she now felt pain in both her shoulder and her leg, she didn't express it though choosing to show the same positive enthusiasm as Sora, "how did you survive anyway?"

"What, you didn't think I would? Thanks a lot Luna. But yeah, I managed to jump after pulling those two idiots." He pointed towards Jasper and Horace who were groaning next to Cruella, who had seemed to revert back to her normal self.

"There's Cruella. So does that mean that…?"

"I'm guessing she wasn't a Heartless after all. Just the Heartless had her trapped," Sora answered Luna before getting up, "Oh no. We need to hurry up or we're going to miss our ride."

"What ride Sora? We've already missed the van- AAH!" Luna screamed as Sora picked her up and glided down the mountain path towards the moving van.

"You can fly?" Luna quizzed as they took the 'shortcut' down the mountain.

"No glide. There's a difference. Now stop moving or I might drop you." Sora said eventually meeting the black van and gliding into it.

"Sora, WATCH OUT!"

A loud crash was heard as Sora and Luna flew into a pile of boxes knocking them apart from each other.

"Oops, sorry heh heh." Sora gave a cheesy grin.

"You're alright. We were worried kupo." Kupopo flashed a smile at the two as the puppies jumped in to lick Sora and Luna. For whatever it was worth, it seemed that the worst was over.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want to stay? You seem hungry and Luna is injured at the moment." Anita had suggested the proposal of Christmas dinner as soon as the Dalmatians, Sora and Luna had found their way to the Radcliffe house. Sora was now searching diligently for the keyhole, it hadn't been found anywhere and the only real clue was that Cruella had said that she would have the Heartless search for a keyhole. If it was back at Hell Hall, then that was a real problem considering Sora had no desire to go back there whatsoever. Meanwhile Luna was resting on the couch, she would be out of action for a while it seemed though Kupopo had supposedly cooked up something that would speed up the rate of healing. Aside from that, the shoulder pains had been easily dealt with using a potion.

"No, we couldn't. There are other worlds out there that need our help and we've stayed here too long. We do appreciate it though." Sora thanked Roger and Anita.

"We can't thank you nearly enough for what you've done. What do you want? Really, you deserve it." Roger told him place his hand on Sora's shoulder.

Sora thought about it for a moment before smiling, "It really isn't a problem. All I… all we," He said referring to him and Luna, "want to see is that you're having a wonderful holiday. So there's our Christmas presents exchanged."

"Well I'll say, you're too generous Sora, thank you and you're always welcome in this house. How about for a nice present, I play you my finished Cruella De Vil piece. Oh by the way, time to admit you were wrong Anita." Roger smirked as he went to his piano.

"Okay, I was wrong. Now wipe that smirk off your face Roger." Anita smiled and looked knowingly at Sora.

"Cruella De Vil, what's happening to her anyway?" Sora asked.

"They've arrested her. Finally found evidence to wipe that smarmy grin of her evil face." Roger seemed to glimmer as he relayed the conversation on the phone that he had had with the police before starting to play on the piano.

"My goodness, this key is always stuck. It's ridiculous." Roger put his pipe in his mouth annoyed as he tried to lift it up with his finger.

_Key…hole. _Sora said before a sudden pang of realization hit him, literally. Pongo jumped at him and licked him on his face.

"Hey, good to see you too boy. Look after the Radcliffes and the puppies for me will ya?" Sora said as Roger finally lifted the key up, "Sorry Roger, you might need to replace that key of yours." Sora said and walked to the key, and with enough force popped the key out of its place and let it fall to the floor.

_Wow, it was crazy enough to work. _Sora grinned as he stared at the tiny keyhole in front of him. Sora summoned his Keyblade and raised it into the air. A glow was emitted from his Keyblade before a light came out which divided into to several spark all flowing into the keyhole. A locking sound was heard before the keyhole disappeared.

"I can't believe that worked."

Sora turned around to see Luna limping into the room and smiling. Though he wasn't done yet with the light spectacle. Sora kept his Keyblade pointed in the air and shot a beam of light at the separate keyhole which appeared from the broken key.

"What was that?" Luna asked, Roger and Anita also wondering.

"A new pathway has opened. Remember the gates Yen Sid was talking about?" Sora told her putting away his Keyblade.

"I see, are they going to be all as difficult to find as this one?" Luna asked.

"Maybe, but that's the exciting part isn't it." Sora said and the two chuckled.

"Nope, still not getting it," Roger said before looking at the piano, "well at least I what to save up for now."

Sora helped Luna out of the house and the two turned back.

"Kupo, can I come?" Kupopo asked as he squeezed past Roger and Anita looked rather timid.

"Of course you can? As I said before, the more the merrier." Sora said, it would after all be pretty useful to have a moogle around who was able to cook recipes to help Sora and Luna out on their journey and Sora could see no overall problems coming out of it, only benefits.

"Thanks kupo." Kupopo went back in and grabbed his traveller's bag before coming back out again.

"Well see ya." Sora said and he, Luna and Kupopo waved to the family and Pongo and Perdita who had also come after seeing Kupopo leave to say their goodbyes. Sora turned back with Luna before turning around again.

"Actually, there is something you could do…"

* * *

Sora put the last pieces of food and drink in the fridge of the Highwind that Roger and Anita had given to them and then sat down before digging into his dinner also provided by the Radcliffes.

"They were so kind to give us what was in their fridge, we have lots now." Sora's voice was drowned out by his constant chewing and biting.

"Didn't mommy tell you not to eat while you were talking Sora?" Luna asked as she ate her potatoes with the fork and knife Anita had given her.

"Oh shush, shouldn't you be resting now or something? Gotta look after that ankle y'know?" Sora told her.

"Resting on an empty stomach? I don't think so. Besides, I heard what you were saying in your sleep in the morning. You should at least eat with the fork and knife they gave you."

"Who are you? My mom?" Sora asked.

"Well that's what you said I was when you were dreaming in the morning." Luna told him smiling.

Sora flushed a deep pink, "I did not."

"So in your dream, was I reading you bed time stories?" Luna cooed before laughing. Sora just stayed silent before reverting back to eating, probably a lot slower this time. He would really need to consider getting back at her someday.

"And you should probably eat your food, maybe you'll actually grow if you did." Sora retorted. Weak, as he had imagined.

"Like you can talk. The shoes and the hair doesn't count Sora." Luna grinned as Sora spluttered the food in his mouth out.

_Ooh, worse than Axel's burns. _Sora thought as he placed his head down. Another long night indeed.

* * *

**Interesting that the 101 Dalmatians world just so happened to be released on Christmas and has a Christmas-y theme to it, huh? (Totally had no idea i was gonna be released on Christmas day) **

**Since Luna seems to be suffering from ankle issues, we're gonna take a break from Sora's gang and shift it to a different perspective for the next chapter or so, until then, see ya later. **


	26. A Hope Shattered

**So I'm finally done with exams, and now I can concentrate on all the good things in life. Movies, games, books and of course writing fanfiction. Anyway, last time Luna injured herself (you silly Luna, jumping off a moving vehicle :D) so now we're taking a break from her and Sora and moving to Riku, Kairi, Donald and Goofy for their little story. Also we finally get a name for this mysterious new enemy. Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 26

A Hope Shattered

The roaring, jeering and whistles of the round room continued on long into the night as Maleficent detailed her plans, plans that would take care of the wretched Keyblade wielders and plans to claim Kingdom Hearts as their own. Those who had suffered defeat from Sora's hands were the most reluctant to agree with the evil fairy's plans, after all they, being Hades and Captain Hook (who wasn't there at present) namely had been humiliated more than once and it was not in their interests to listen to anything Maleficent would say. As far as it was concerned, Hades wanted to conquer and overthrow Olympus in his own way and Hook had only been after the treasure.

"I met the blasted scallywag on the way here. I'm not having my ship or any more party of my body sacrificed for your goals Maleficent." Hook argued thrusting his hooked arm in Maleficent's face.

"What I think we all want to know is how you can ensure that none of us get into any accidents, if you know what I mean?" Hades continued on for Hook and the others in the room muttered their approval of the question, "Just looking for insurance here is all, a guarantee. And that's the problem; you can't provide us with one. Remember what happened to that smarmy vizier, big momma and the sack of bugs. Not to mention that De Vil woman you hired a while ago and she didn't even last a day."

"Yet if you hadn't taken the time to realise this by now, Jafar, Ursula, Oogie and Cruella did not heed my words about succumbing to the darkness in their hearts. Their deaths were their fault and theirs alone. If you do as I say, then no harm shall come to you." Maleficent said calmly.

It was clear that the group of villains were still uneasy about the prospect of forming and no doubt Hades and Captain Hook had gone out of their way to make it harder than it needed to be to have Maleficent convince them. Regardless, she felt she had the deal struck up pretty tightly as each of the members of the group could really only benefit… unless they died of course.

"From what you've told us, I can only surmise those four; Hades, Hook and you Maleficent were weak, are weak even. These Keyblade wielders hardly seem that difficult to take on. The power of the heart can be easily manipulated, if you tug on the right chords that is and they tugged wrong." The man in the front flicked his long blue bangs aside and gave a confident smirk.

"Are you saying I'm weak? Hey, I don't usually brag and such, but, um, I'M THE GOD OF THE UNDERWORLD," Hades blasted into a rage of fury turning hot red before pausing and replacing that with his usual calm blue, "I mean, I'm sorry for blasting up and all but did any one catch the part where I'm 'God of the Underworld'? No one? I mean from what I just heard, and I may be wrong, it sounded as if you were telling me that I wasn't doing my job properly Seymour."

The man identified as Seymour put his hands in the air in defence, "I wasn't suggesting any a thing. Just I find it merely intriguing that a being of your stature was unable to stop a teenager from roaming about your Underworld and let a man that you brought back from the dead humiliate you."

"Who told you that?"

"May I object and suggest we actually listen to this plan Maleficent has concocted? Unlike most of you, I do not need protection. I can handle myself and don't have to resort to this 'insurance' you propose Hades." A creature standing by the shadows said while staring downwards. The tentacles under his chin were probably the only visible thing being reflected by the moon.

"And right you are Mr Tentacles. I want to see exactly how tough this boy with the Keyblade is." Another voice, crazier and higher pitched than the rest yet just as terrifying voiced.

"My name is Davy Jones, captain of the Flying Dutchman, the most feared ship in all the seas and you'd do best to remember it as I've remembered yours Kefka." Jones spat before revealing himself in the pale moonlight shining from beyond the window, his footsteps make a loud thud each time due to the water bucket under his feet, or were they even feet? Considering the appearance of this individual was like, it would make a lot more sense to assume he didn't have any whatsoever. The beastly form of the Captain was easily the most terrifying thing in the room though the captain had never asked for a warm welcome. He was already stretching it anyway as he could come onto land only once every decade. Nonetheless, he had taken up Maleficent's interesting proposal to come via a dark corridor and had loop holed his way around this rule by standing in a bucket full of water, so technically he wasn't really on land.

"I highly doubt you are any match for my own ship." Hook bragged.

"Hah, anyway I need to get back to my ship Maleficent, the souls of the dead can't wait forever. I look forward to hearing from you again." Davy Jones said and Maleficent nodded before opening a portal up for him.

"Hey, hopefully you deliver those souls to my underworld stat." Hades pointed at him though Jones simply laughed and shrugged it off.

"They're not for you." He sneered and with that disappeared into the corridor, the portal soon closing behind him.

"I was only joking but okay, it seems like comedy's not up on most of your menus tonight. Tough crowd." Hades murmured. Silence loomed over the room and a chilly breeze from the eternal night of the sky and its subsidiary, the wind, could only help but frighten those not who knew nothing of Maleficent's style, which just so happened to be the majority there. The only other sound that could be heard came from the scuttling of thousands if not tens of thousands of Heartless below and increasing by the minute.

Finally Maleficent broke the silence and spoke her next words, "I see no reason to delay my plan any further. We shall attack the castle. With the king no longer there, the castle will be thrown into array."

"I'm sorry, from what I thought I just heard, it sounds like you're asking for a death wish."

The crowd turned and conversed under their breath as the man in the black coat appeared from a portal and stood in front of Maleficent.

"Welcome to the show, have a seat, oh and don't tell us who you are and why you're here by the way." A man of darker tone said as he leaned from the wall.

The black coated figure ignored the other man and instead focused on Maleficent, "You can try all you want to invade that castle. There are just two problems you may or may not have considered. First, the cornerstone of light-"

"Which I have already discerned as my main problem, you need not worry if that is your concern because that is why you are here."

"Even if the cornerstone of light is gone, the castle still has protection in the form of Queen Minnie who will no doubt have upped security around the castle in terms of magic and guards. Secondly, they're already aware of our plans to attack the castle and no doubt some of the Keyblade wielders will be there as protection for the queen. You know what that means don't you? If whoever you send does not do their job well and gets caught, they may give away your location." The man explained.

"If anyone is likely to give us away, it would be you." A woman's nasally voice was heard from somewhere behind him followed by approvals.

"Funny, since I wouldn't have anything to benefit from revealing your secrets but the rest of you…" He turned around to meet the faces of the enraged group, "all have something to lose if you were captured. There is very little reason to send any of you by yourself, at least alone," He turned back to Maleficent, "but you won't send more than one of them either. Two would be too many to lose if they failed and I think we all agree that you'd rather had no losses."

Maleficent considered his words. It was true that she was hesitant to send more than one to do the job but had she any other choice. Two would be more successful than one but would also bring more attention. It was simply a lose-lose situation in both cases.

"And what do you suggest?" Maleficent asked.

"I'll go. And I'm taking Hook and his ship along with me if you don't mind. I have a plan in mind but I'll need his co-operation in this."

Maleficent pondered his offer before looking back, "I see no reason as to why not. But Hook shall be the leader of this 'escapade' as it's clear that not everyone trusts you yet."

"Look Maleficent, I appreciate the gesture and all, but this man… we don't even know his name. How can you stand for the kerfuffle he brings?" Hook questioned. Another sign of approval from the others.

"My oh my. Well, if a name is really that important to you, then it's Abraxas." He told them. The next few minutes were now spent trying to convince Abraxas to remove his hood and show his face (Hades had referred to him as a "shy little raven") but all attempts ended in failure.

"And so we have our plan. I shall leave it to our friend here," Maleficent uncurled her finger and moved them in Abraxas' direction, "And the attack shall happen a week from now. Hook, you shall be staying here until the time comes. The rest of you are dismissed."

The rest returned to their worlds with use of Maleficent's magic. She could only watch Abraxas as he left the room by the door. While she could hope that this was not another Xehanort case, hoping was not enough. She wanted this mysterious man under her control and not the other way around and the first step of doing so was to make him realise and understand who the leader of the pack was.

* * *

The guards of Disney Castle immediately turned as they saw Riku, Kairi, Max and Merlin appear out of nowhere with the loud poof sound in the dead of night. While not particularly aware with the other two's identities, though Kairi seemed fairly familiar due to her winning the Millions Dream Award, they relaxed and slumped back when they saw the more recognisable Merlin and Max.

"You may pass. Her Majesty is expecting your presence at the study." One of the guards told them and opened the door.

It had been two weeks roughly since they had last visited the castle and already something in the atmosphere had changed. It definitely was not as friendly and full of life as it could be and Riku and Kairi somehow doubted it was just because it was at night. While it was true that the castle did feel rather empty during that time, multiple guards now compromised the silence by stamping across the halls leading to and from the study room. As Riku passed, he felt brief flashes and glimpses of suspicion, though he chose to ignore it and eventually these questioning looks were replaced with smiles upon realising who it was.

"Your majesty?" Riku called as one of the guards opened the door to the study letting the group in.

"Riku and Kairi, it's nice to see you two again. And Max and Merlin of course." Minnie smiled gently before getting straight down to business and collecting what appeared to be a piece of paper from Donald, who was standing next to her along with Goofy. From her increased concentration, more so than usual, Riku could tell that Minnie had certainly not invited them over for tea, and if there was it would be at the end of a very long night to come.

Riku and Kairi hadn't really been told anything when Merlin had come to see them during Kairi's training. They had only been told that the castle was possibly in danger and nothing else. Of course, that alone had been enough to spark Riku and Kairi's curiosity and so they had taken time off to venture to Disney Castle to hear what the queen had to say.

"This letter was brought to me by Donald and Goofy from Master Yen Sid."

Riku took the letter from Minnie's hands and read through the content. Kairi appeared by his side and glanced over the piece of paper to get a better look. On this piece of paper, Yen Sid had expressed caution over investigating the recent events so far. He had also questioned the possibility of an attack by the mysterious man or Maleficent at any point. More interestingly enough, Yen Sid had confirmed that a few stars had recently blinked out of existence.

"The Heartless aren't increasing in just Radiant Garden then. It's in every world," Riku said passing the letter to Kairi so she could read through it more thoroughly, "and about this attack."

"I suppose if Maleficent wants to take over this world, now is a better time than ever with the King kidnapped." Minnie sighed deeply.

"Hmm, what's this about a mission for Donald and Goofy?" Kairi pointed out near the end of the letter.

"Well one of 'em was to protect her highness for a while. The second was-" Goofy was about to say but Donald was quick enough to take his staff out and hit Goofy in the leg, "YEOWCH!" Goofy hopped about in pain.

"The second thing is a secret." Donald said putting his staff back.

"Right. Secret. Ouch!" Goofy wailed before chuckling. It was just like Goofy to go back to his normal ways after being hurt, Riku thought before getting back to the matter at hand. He wondered if he could get Max to speak to Goofy about the second secret in private but he could ask that later.

"So where's Daisy? Shouldn't she be with you?" Kairi asked.

"She went off into Disney Town to see if she could pick up any rumours regarding suspicious activity. Don't worry; I had her escorted by four guards." Minnie told them.

"Are you sure you want to do that? Wouldn't someone pick up that something was happening around the castle?" Riku inquired quite hesitant about the idea. He was not the only one. Donald seemed practically on the edge of biting his invisible nails and no doubt considered this a bad idea too, but for different reasons of course.

"She insisted on it. Besides, we usually do regular checks around the town anyway. The fact that it's her and not me this time can simply be put down to the fact that I have a busy schedule… or something like that." Minnie provided a reasonable excuse.

"You really did think of everything huh?" Regardless, Riku was not quite convinced that this would solve the problem since if Maleficent attacked the castle, the public would know anyway.

Goofy broke Riku's train of thought by striking a conversation with Kairi, "So how's the training going Kairi?"

"I've been doing quite well so far. I might even pass this guy here pretty soon." Kairi snickered while nudging Riku on the arm.

"Oh please, you're not even close to me yet. Maybe a little under Sora?"

That was the wrong move to make. Riku had been trying to get Kairi's worrying mind off of Sora and Luna since they had left by training and now that he had mentioned the name, Kairi had moved her eyes to the ground, her smile disappearing from her face.

"I wonder if Sora and Luna's alright. They're probably having so much fun without us." She whispered.

"I'm sure they're alright Kairi. Even if they were having fun, is that a bad thing?" Donald tried to comfort the girl.

"No."

"Exactly. Even if they were having fun, you can't forget your friends. I'm sure they're constantly worrying about you too, especially Sora." Donald answered.

Kairi cheered up and nodded her head whispering a "Thanks Donald" in response.

"So how's my Maxi doing?" Goofy hollered causing the teen to jump in fright at the sudden call of his name.

"A-I-Hyuck, I mean I'm fine I'm fine. Really." Max looked around embarrassed, anywhere but his father would be fine. And just where did the Hyuck come from?

"You have been studying haven't you?" Goofy eyed him suspiciously causing Max to break out into a cold sweat.

"Of course dad, please… I wouldn't disappoint you, heh heh." Max laughed nervously. This seemed to be enough to lay Goofy off his case and he relaxed… slightly.

It didn't really take long before Riku's premonition about something bad coming from Daisy asking the citizens about recent activities. While the group were catching up and listening to a hilarious yet awkward conversation between Goofy and Max, the door burst open and in came a person Riku, Kairi and Merlin did not know and someone Donald, Goofy, Max and especially Minnie knew all too well.

"Mortimer! What are you doing here?" Minnie's tone of anger was definitely one that the group had never seen before. Mortimer looked slightly like Mickey, though was a lot taller and had an appearance that did well to show pretension, if that was what he was going for. Daisy was strutting in after him with the guards by her side, "I totally said that you couldn't come in here. We don't welcome reporters at just any time, especially the snobbish kind. Well, maybe if it was me I suppose…"

"Daisy! That's not the point!" Minnie stamped her feet.

"Oops, sorry." Daisy apologised.

"Uh, who are you exactly?" Riku quizzed the stranger.

"Come now kid, there isn't a person in all of Disney Town that doesn't know Mortimer Mouse, established head writer and editor in chief of Disney Weekly." Mortimer explained as if it were an obvious thing.

"Yeah, Disney Town. That explains why I don't know about you." Riku said. For whatever reason, the atmosphere had suddenly changed ever since Mortimer had come in and whatever positive energy there had been had now been replaced by smugness.

"So then, where's Mickey? Not spending enough time with a beauty like you I suppose? Just like always." Mortimer closed in on Minnie who would rather at that moment deal with Maleficent any day than him.

"If you're doing what I think you're doing then I don't know how many times I have to tell you this but we are over." Minnie jumped and twirled, using her Faith magic to knock Mortimer onto the ground.

"Ha-cha-cha, love it when ya do that." Mortimer winced in pain but was still in a resounding flirty mood.

"Uh, exposition please?" Kairi asked Donald and Goofy.

"Mortimer is the king's rival. From what I've heard he used to go out with Queen Minnie." Donald whispered back so neither Minnie nor Mortimer could hear. It was clear Minnie had no interest in detailing her love life with anyone and Kairi and Riku certainly didn't want to bother her, at least not right now.

"So I'm guessing he was so obsessed with his own ego that she left him for Mickey?" Kairi said trying to form the pieces together. From Donald's silence, she guessed she was probably correct.

"So where is the little pipsqueak anyway?" Mortimer grinned as he got up, walked over to the bookcase and leaned on it.

"If by pipsqueak you mean Mickey, he has a lot of things handle on his plate." Minnie told him.

"Oh I'm sure he does and they all taste like the word 'loser'. Bitter and cold." Mortimer laughed before clearing his throat, "In all seriousness though Minnie, I could look after you while _his majesty_ is on his errands." Mortimer said with emphasis on the 'his majesty' part.

"Sorry but that position is already filled. No need to worry." Riku stepped in between Minnie and Mortimer.

Minnie flashed Riku a brief smile before turning back to Mortimer, "I appreciate your concern but as Riku's already said I have the appropriate services. Until next time Mortimer. Guards, escort this man outside of the castle!" Minnie yelled and whistled signalling in a bunch of animate brooms that set aside their buckets of water and marched straight for Mortimer.

"Hey no, don't touch there. You know how much it cost to have this suit tailored?" Mortimer's resistances were all for nought as he was picked up by six of the strongest brooms Riku and Kairi had ever seen and was taken out of the study.

Minnie waited until the cries of Mortimer were quite distant before bursting into giggles, "I mean think of Pete but times twenty."

"I wouldn't have minded had he interviewed me Minnie, how could you turn down something like that?" Daisy enquired.

"Not with him you aren't?" Donald squirmed.

"Oh? And I suppose you get to decide that? Think he might steal me away from you next huh? A woman like me. I'd hardly be surprised." Daisy responded batting her eyelashes.

"I seriously doubt it." Donald muttered however it was loud enough for Daisy to hear.

"And what exactly does that mean? Donald? Donald! Look at me when I'm talking to you." Daisy demanded causing Donald to gulp.

"One moment, you two can argue all you want later. Right now, I'm feeling the strangest feeling." Merlin interrupted the two.

"Weird feeling Merlin? Like what?" Minnie replied not so sure if she wanted to know now.

"Well, I think it's the same feeling I get when I put on my pair of warm woolly socks for the winter only to find out Cid has been wearing them." Merlin told them.

"Too much information. Just get to the point." Kairi unfurled her tongue in abhorrence.

"Well, let's just say I have a bad feeling and this feeling is coming from the audience chamber. When we passed it on our way here I felt the same feeling, but I thought of it as just a coincidence. Unfortunately I haven't been able to shake the feeling off since." Merlin explained.

"Then we need to get to the audience chamber!" Max exclaimed perhaps a little too happily. The rest of the group stood in confusion at Max's sudden outburst and were all curious, especially Goofy, about Max's sudden change of enthusiasm.

"Okay… I see someone's on their toes," Riku said breaking the silence in the atmosphere before turning, "As Max said, to the audience chamber. Minnie should stay somewhere in the middle between us just in case."

Kairi joined in on Riku's strategy thinking, "Right, so Riku and I will stay in front and you guys will stay at the back. Sorry Merlin, Daisy, I'm not sure where…"

"Oh it's quite alright; we'll be right by Minnie's side, won't we?" Merlin told her smiling gently. Daisy nodded firmly also smiling. Riku looked on ahead. He would certainly know if Maleficent had crept into the castle, since he could easily smell the regular foul stench of darkness following her behind, yet he hadn't sensed anything of the sort. So if it wasn't Maleficent, then who exactly was it?

* * *

Riku burst through the room to the audience chamber to find at least a dozen guards lay strewn on the floor, possibly unconscious or worse.

"What happened in here?" Minnie asked in fright as Riku and Kairi summoned their Keyblade. Donald and Goofy had to admire how much Kairi had changed since they had last met her. An aura of confidence had seemed to sprout from the inexperienced Keyblade wielder who now seemed to hold her Keyblade in a confident manner. The position of her battle stance had changed as well, a bit more similar to their other Keyblade friend Aqua, but instead holding her Keyblade with both hands. Her Keyblade was also slightly more forward than the way Aqua would hold hers, with Kairi's at her waist.

As captain of the royal knights, Goofy saw it his duty to rush over to his fellow knights, "Can anyone still move?"

"Dad? I think he can." Max told Goofy as he wondered around the audience chamber. He had come across another knight, whom he had never seen before but was sure was part of the advanced unit of guards judging by the uniform that they wore. Each level of the King's guard were divided into units according to their experience and suited with equipment accustomed to their training so far. Of course this did not stop even the most inexperienced of knights from getting the same armor as everyone else, though they certainly had to work for the honour of earning a particular weapon. As Max was a not exactly a knight but one in training, he hadn't received his outfit yet and he still wasn't really sure whether he wanted to receive one. There was just something about becoming a knight which seemed so unappealing to him, add in the fact Goofy would completely embarrass him at times in front of his friends and it was easy to understand why he was reluctant to fight beside him on the frontlines, even if it was to protect his majesty.

"Captain, help me…" The guard could only breathe just barely.

"Breathe easy now. Tell us what happened?" Goofy asked not in any rush to get answers out of him.

"Th-There's a man. He attacked us and- and headed to cornerstone…" The guard managed to speak out before falling unconscious.

"Oh no!" Minnie shouted before running over to the throne. Somehow the mysterious intruder had located the button which had opened the room leading into the hall of the cornerstone, except the room wasn't open. Had he found some way into the room other than having to press the button?

"Merlin and Max, I need you two to get these guards out of here and to the infirmary." Kairi ordered. Merlin and Max were immediately on the job starting to aid the knights to the infirmary, which in Merlin's case was easy since all he had to do was levitate the bodies.

"And we need to protect Queen Minnie." Donald said rushing off to the queen's side, Goofy right behind him.

"That duck never learns. Look after him, Goofy and Minnie for me will ya? I need to warn the guards." Daisy said before walking off towards the exit in a brisk manner.

Riku, Kairi, Donald and Goofy watched as Minnie opened the room to the cornerstone before running down the stairs to come across a figure with a black coat facing away from them. He was walking slowly to the cornerstone and his arms stretched out and were just about to reach it…

"Stop right there!" Riku yelled and the man abided by his wishes. Riku kept his Way to the Dawn Keyblade pointed on the man at all times, with his eyes also acting in support of this.

Goofy was the first to speak up, "A black coat? Are you associated with Organization XIII?"

"It couldn't be. We've defeated them all. Who exactly are you?" Donald enquired pulling out his staff and getting ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"The name's Abraxas. I guess I'll be your boss today." Abraxas turned around to face them and whistled. To the groups surprise, Pluto who had been somewhere to the left of where they had come from walked in and growled at them.

"Pluto! You're okay." Goofy yelled in joy and ran towards the dog however Pluto wasn't so willing to accept Goofy's kindness and jumped latching itself onto Goofy's hand.

"OOOHWWEEEEE!" Goofy yelped and ran in circles trying to shake the aggressive and alien Pluto from his hand.

"What did you do to Pluto?! You better not have hurt him or I'll-"

"Or you'll what?" Abraxas said interrupting Minnie, "As far as we all know, you're not in a position to do anything about it. Not that I did hurt him of course. He's quite the reliable companion isn't he?"

"I'm only going to ask you this once. Are you the one who kidnapped Mickey?" Riku asked.

Abraxas shook his head, his smile concealed behind his hood, "Again, what if I was? He's not with me anymore. Maleficent, on the hand… Anyway, I was quite interested in the history of your castle Queen Minnie and I decided to visit. Hope you don't mind."

"I highly doubt that's all you're here for. And will you at least put down your hood so I can see your face?" Minnie shrieked.

"The one who I show my face to first will be the one I most want to see which just so happens to be none of you here," Abraxas answered before turning back to the cornerstone, "A light so radiant it blinds even the darkness. The true purpose of this castle is concealing a light so pure. It certainly isn't the same light as the Princesses of Hearts' lights or even Kingdom Hearts but it still is something. Why so selfish Minnie? Hiding a light which could possibly save others' lives? If they don't deserve something like this, hah, then why do you?" Abraxas once again dragged his arms into the air.

"Wait Abraxas, NO!"

But Minnie's warning fell silent on Abraxas as he summoned what was his weapon in his hand, his Keyblade and hammered down, smashing the orb of light into pieces. Most of the group fell silent, Minnie who had collapsed and was shedding tears. Riku however, was quite enraged and rushed over to Abraxas.

Abraxas blocked Riku's vertical strike easily with his Keyblade; one longer and thicker than Riku's and sent the silver haired boy flying with a strong punch to the torso, slightly missing the ribs on purpose.

"Riku!" Kairi yelled shoving her Keyblade forward and flinging Firaga after Firaga at the enemy, who stood firmly and blocked with his Keyblade. Donald also helped out by spamming Thundaga magic which was harder to block and ultimately knocked Abraxas back a bit.

"Kairi, try using thunder attacks only on him." Donald shouted to her and she nodded.

"Kairi. Ah, so you're one of the Princesses of Heart? One of Sora's friends as well I take it?" Abraxas grinned.

"Sora? You know Sora? Did you meet him? What did you-" Kairi's barrage of questions was interrupted by Abraxas suddenly disappearing in his spot and appearing behind her.

"Kairi!" Riku yelled managing to get up from the ground and clutching his Keyblade perhaps too tightly.

"Well excuse me princess but I'm afraid I won't be answering any of your questions today." He said having his Keyblade pointed at her back. How in the world had he managed to move so quickly anyway? Kairi did not dare turn around to stare into the silhouetted face of the man who had claimed he knew Sora. What did that mean? Had they met somewhere along the way and if so, was he alright?

Instead of asking these questions, she decided to play the cool route instead, "I'd appreciate it if you could lower your Keyblade. It's digging into my back." Kairi gulped wondering if she had done something terribly foolish.

Fortunately Abraxas only gave a brief laugh before pulling back and putting away his Keyblade. He leaned into Kairi's ear and whispered something to her.

"I want to let you know how close to death you came if I were just another enemy. How do you think everyone would have felt had I killed you right here and now. Fortunately, that's not how I do my job. My advice? Brush up on your defence." Abraxas told her before stepping back and summoning a dark corridor.

"Boy, come." Abraxas called and the dog ceased biting Goofy's hand and ran straight for its new master.

"Pluto. Why?" Minnie asked softly towards the dog who in response only stared at her in confusion, "Don't you remember me?"

Pluto stared at Minnie for the longest time, possibly trying to sense something, the urgency behind Minnie's voice or maybe even the slightest hint that this person talking to him right now was trying to mislead him.

"Are you coming or not?" Abraxas asked. Was it wearing off already?

"Come on Pluto; remember the fun times we had." Goofy somehow managed to grin through a painful spread of the muscles.

"Yeah, you can't abandon King Mickey." Donald pointed out. Pluto looked backwards and forwards between Minnie, Donald and Goofy and Abraxas. His head seemed to be spinning in so many directions literally that he knocked himself out.

"Uh Donald…" Goofy was about to say.

"Don't say it Goofy." Donald rolled his eyes.

Abraxas looked down at the dog below him and seemed to stare thoughtfully for a second before looking back up, "On second thought, you can have him. I look forward to meeting you again." Abraxas turned his head to Kairi in particular before backing into the portal and closing it behind him.

"Pluto needs to get some rest." Minnie told them.

"Minnie, about the cornerstone. I-" Riku began.

"Don't worry about it Riku. We can deal with that later. Right now we need to help Merlin and Max with the other guards." Minnie told them. She seemed to be back to her old self; although Riku and Kairi were not sure whether this was false confidence or genuine concern. For Riku, it was impossible to simply just forget about what happened when the cornerstone of light had been destroyed and he had let the culprit behind Mickey's capture get away so easily. For Kairi, she felt Abraxas' words to her finally hit home. She had really come close to death and for whatever reason; Abraxas had not finished her right then and there. In general though for both of them, they were worried about the results of the consequences behind this attack. It definitely seemed as if Maleficent's plan was coming into fruition and she would no doubt eventually attack the castle. The only question both of them really wanted to find out, was when?


	27. And Silence Broke

If you will beleive it, my luck is absolutely terrible. The reason I haven't updated in a while is due to my broadband being cut off after I switched internet providers. They still haven't activated it yet and now I have to upload this at school.

Ranting aside, here's the next chapter of Dual Destinies and what an action packed chapter it is. Have fun reading guys and please make sure to follow the story or review.

* * *

Chapter 27

And Silence Broke…

Above the skies of Disney Town was stationed Hook's ship, ready to receive his 'orders'. This was rather weird considering he had been made leader of the mission however Abraxas had confided in his own abilities rather than the pirate's being the key to this mission. Still, Hook was suspicious as to the motives of the mysterious Abraxas. If he wanted to be trusted so badly then why not show his face? Hook took it as cowardice on the man's part and he knew he wasn't the only one who believed this. So then why did Maleficent still trust him? It was true that he had helped out with the plan immensely, perhaps even more so than anyone else but his agenda for doing so could have been completely different from everyone else's.

So here Hook was, in his cabin and resulting to play chess with Smee while the other man he didn't trust was doing who knows what at that castle.

"You're slipping captain. Checkmate." Smee said triumphantly after moving his knight to take Hook's king.

"Oh? A silly mistake Smee. Just a silly mistake." He dragged off clearly not in the mood.

"Something wrong captain?" Smee enquired as he set up the chess board once again.

"Wasn't I supposed to be leading this little attack? So why am I the pawn? Being forced to sit here and await his orders. HAH! I laugh at myself Smee sometimes, I really do." Hook gritted his teeth banging his hook on the chess board causing the pieces Smee had placed there to fall down.

"If it's any consolidation captain, Maleficent gave you control of the Heartless." Smee tried to reassure him.

"And how do I know that Smee? How do I know that he doesn't have some weird_ voodoo_ magic up his sleeve?" Hook gestured with his hands weirdly. Smee didn't answer, but chose to set up the board once again, "Well at least Peter Pan isn't involved in this," Hook continued after some thought, "he's raised enough trouble as it is. One day however, one day…"

"That's right captain, if anyone can do it, you can. Maybe not next time, or the time after that, or maybe even after that or-"

"Not helping Smee," Hook yelled at him banging his hands on the table once again causing the pieces to fall a second time, "And I certainly won't let that coddle fish steal my position. I'll show him that I'm still in charge and if he even thinks about taking it… well, I'll send him straight to the Heartless' world." He finished referring to Abraxas.

"Aye Aye sir. Excellent choice." Smee agreed though it was hard to tell at times whether he was just agreeing for the sake of agreeing with Captain Hook or he genuinely did feel that way.

It was only a few seconds after Smee had said this, a dark corridor had opened and Abraxas walked out from it.

"You may begin the operation." He said simply before sitting down on Hook's bed much to the pirate's dismay.

"Listen here laddie; I make the orders around here ya here. My ship means my rules!" Hook blasted into a fit. One of these days he would have that stupid hood taken off that man's head.

"Calm down. There's no need to get you bloomers in a twist." Abraxas said holding out his hands.

"How did you know I wear- Forget it. I uh, mean you should very well understand that your role in this isn't over yet?" Hook quickly recomposed himself before continuing on, "Anyway, we should begin the operation."

Abraxas sighed and shook his head whispering, "Didn't I just say that?"

"Our mission is simple. Take the castle and start negotiations with the queen. No funny business on this cruise, got it?" Hook told him before smirking evilly.

"Before that, like we've guessed there are definitely Keyblade wielders there. You should take special precautions if you don't want to screw this up." Abraxas told him before walking out of the cabin and on to the deck.

"Oh, if something were to happen then I'm afraid the blame would be placed on you my friend," Hook laughed and Smee laughed along with him. After a long amount of time, Hook began to feel the redundancy of the laughter, "What are you doing Smee?"

"I was laughing along with y-"

"Stop golly-gawking and get on with it!" Hook said getting up and following Abraxas out onto the deck, with Smee staying behind to finish placing the pieces back onto the chess board just in case the captain was interested in another game after conquering the now terror-filled Disney Castle.

* * *

It was turmoil and fear the conquered the walls of Disney Castle and weirdly enough, a sense of curiosity, of what might happen now that their shining light had been put out. Riku had asked Kairi to help the nurses with the patients by using her healing spell. Other than helping the injured knights out, it would also benefit Kairi by enhancing her restorative spells, something that would greatly help her out as Princess of Heart. Riku was well aware that she was possibly going to a new target for Abraxas and Maleficent. This was accompanied by their original target or targets which were Minnie or Disney Castle or possibly even both.

Worse yet, Abraxas knew about Sora. Riku had attempted to comfort Kairi while on their way to the infirmary quite a few times telling her that he was Sora and Luna would be okay and that they wouldn't go down that easily, though it seemed to do little to quell the doubts of Kairi and even Riku was having a hard time trying to convince himself. He knew Sora would be fine, but he wasn't sure about Luna. She was new to using the Keyblade making her an easy target for that man. If Sora had tried to protect her and took a blow for her in the process…

Still there was certainly hope, possibly more than that. Minnie had contacted Chip and Dale to ask if Sora and Luna were okay. According to the two chipmunks a few minutes after this, they hadn't received any response but had faintly heard the sound of the engine not to mention Chip and Dale had last talked to the two a few days ago with something about Sora mentioning a minor injury and that they were taking time to recover. Hopefully right now, they were just sleeping.

A bark was heard halfway down the hallway and soon Pluto's shape could be seen nearing Riku with a large grin on his face. Of course, Pluto was back to normal though unfortunately they were unable to get any information out of him for obvious reasons.

"Hey boy, doing alright? Where's the queen?" Riku asked him. He was sure Kairi would be fine with Merlin and the nurses, but Minnie couldn't be left alone by herself and he doubted that Donald, Goofy and Max would be able to handle someone like Abraxas by themselves. It wasn't that he thought of them as weak, it was just if Riku couldn't handle him then it was unlikely that they could.

"Woof! Woof!" Pluto gave another bark before running off back the way he came. Riku followed him taking off into a nice paced jog.

The amount of guards all around the castle had definitely increased since he had been there last time, so much so in fact that it was almost like prison. Riku figured that it must've been pretty hard for Minnie to live a normal life with guards breathing down her neck every second.

"Report the status of the castle, uh, sirs?" Riku said wondering how one were to talk to these kinds of people as he and Pluto came to a stop in front of two of them guarding the door to the castle gardens.

"Everything is fine for now Keyblade Master. All is silent and well." The guard on the left answered him.

"Just Riku will be fine. Her Majesty is through this way right?" Riku asked.

"Her Majesty the Queen is currently in the King's study." The one of the right spoke this time. Riku noted the formality in both their voices compared to his own. It was hard not to. They were quite distinct and nothing like Goofy's either.

"So they've already told you what's happening?" Riku tried to confirm, "How do you guys feel about it. Be honest."

"In all honesty, we're both a little anxious. Are the Heartless really coming here?" The guard on the right asked.

"Maybe. And we don't know when. It could be any moment, not to put pressure on you guys of course. But we'll need you all to fight and it may seem hard but you can't let Minnie down and most of all you can't let yourselves down. Just remember though that your life comes before the Queen. Kairi and I will handle the rest, alright?"

"Yes Keybla- Riku, sir." The one on the left said with the other agreeing shortly after. Bidding his goodbyes, Riku left along with Pluto out into the gardens and headed to the other side of the castle.

* * *

"Heal." Kairi said with her Keyblade pointed at one of the guards. A vivid green light and the sound of bells saw his deep wound disappear in seconds. His groaning had not turned into deep breaths and he finally opened his eyes.

"Thank you." He gasped putting his hands to his side and trying to get up. It had taken a while to get all of the patients out of their armor so they could be treated and even with the help of the cure spell, it still didn't completely heal the cut though there was no mistake that it did help.

"Stop, you're in no condition to move. Get some rest." Kairi told him as one of the nurses, a cat if you would believe it, came over to bandage his wound.

"But the castle…" The guard sighed.

"Miss Kairi is right dear. Don't over exhaust yourself before you get better, or you might not recover quickly at all." The cat said and laid him back down.

"Still… please protect Her Majesty for me." The guard uttered out before closing his eyes.

"I will." Kairi told him. Her mind was still quite unfocused from Abraxas' words earlier and her conversations with Riku were all moot thanks to her caring for Sora's well-being. If she could just see him again to know he was alright maybe she would be a lot better off right now.

"Miss Kairi, I am astounded by your proficiency in healing magic. My name is Aristabelle." The nurse said holding out her paws to meet Kairi's.

"Nice to meet you Aristabelle. What a nice name." Kairi accepted her hand finding this as a perfect excuse to take her mind of sorrowful thoughts.

"Oh it's nothing really," There was a slight pause as Aristabelle continued to wrap the bandages around the knight's torso, "Anyway, you really are wonderful at magic."

"Oh no, I'm awful at it in comparison to a few friends I know. Donald and Merlin, definitely not. And there's also Palom, Porom and Aerith who are amazing at it and are really dedicated to their magic." Kairi argued but Aristabelle shook her head.

"Even so, it's much better than the magic us Nurses have learnt." She told Kairi as she finished wrapping the bandage up.

"Really? I find that kind of hard to believe. I've only been training for about six months now. I just started it up again though." Kairi told her and she nodded.

Another weird and this time longer pause. _This is getting a bit awkward, please say something. _Kairi thought, anything to distract her from thinking about Sora would help, unless it was referring to Sora himself of course.

"Um, you may not know this but I was in the crowd when you accepted the Million Dreams Award."

"Oh, you were? That's nice." Kairi said.

"You have an interesting, um, style? When it comes to decorating." Aristabelle told her.

"Oh thanks, but it really is nothing. Hey, have you ever tried Sea Salt Ice Cream before?" Kairi asked. She wanted the opinion of someone else other than Sora and Riku who had tried her ice cream before.

"I can't say I have. What is it?" The cat nurse said looking away from her patient to Kairi.

"Oh you have got to try some. I've made some before and I'm not sure how good it is or anything but it would be great if you could try it. Think of it as salty but sweet at the same time." Kairi explained.

"Sounds tasty. And you can make some for me?"

"I'll try. Probably after this is over, okay?" Kairi's smile was returned with Aristabelle's own and there was a moment of appreciation between the two.

"AAAHHH!"A yell was heard from across the room. Kairi pivoted and turned on her heel to come face to face with a Shadow jumping straight at her. Quickly she summoned her Keyblade and slashed upwards taking the Shadow out quickly.

"Looks like they're already here," Kairi said mainly to herself, "I need to get to Minnie. I'll have the guards outside help you out here."

Aristabelle and the other nurses all murmured a "yes" before continuing their duties. Kairi opened the door and used fire magic on one of the Soldiers that were near one the guards.

"Thanks." The guards said before deflecting a Soldier's attack with his shield and striking back with his sword taking care of it.

"I need you two to guard this room while I'm gone. I'll send more your way when I meet them, is that alright?" Kairi instructed. She quickly ducked as a group of Crimson Jazz sent a barrage of fires her way.

"Of course ma'am." The other guard in the hall blocked another fire spell being thrown at him and backed slowly away. Kairi sent a blizzard getting rid of three of the fire type Heartless before proceeding down the corridor. Her main priority was getting the Minnie and while she was working her way down the corridor and taking out the Heartless that plagued the long room, she could only imagine that Riku was probably already at her side. Even so, he could at least have told her where he was going. On her way down the hall she just barely managed to inform guards who were rushing past to cover the infirmary as well. The castle was in absolute chaos and Kairi didn't know how long the knights, mages and guards of the castle were going to last. If the onslaught of Heartless kept up, then they may be forced to evacuate. That was something they absolutely could not afford to do but would if the toll of fatigue was too great however so far the castle showed a high spirit in defending its territory and the people in it.

"Kairi!" The voice of Merlin could be heard behind her but Kairi had to take out the Large Bodies in her way first before she could even think about turning around to face him. Due to her inexperience with fighting this type of Heartless, she wasted too much energy taking them out. For as long and hard as she could stand to fight them, she was unable to take from the back since they were so close to each other and she took a few hits in the process but managed to avoid one that would no doubt have been a deafening blow which was when one of the Large Bodies had tried to land on top of her.

Merlin flicked his wand and sent a spell stopping the Heartless from moving and allowing Kairi to move behind them and attack them quickly. Time soon moved again for the Large Bodies and the inflicted damage was clearly seen as they flinched several times before disappearing and allowing hearts to float up out of the ceiling.

"Thanks a lot Merlin. Why did you leave the infirmary?" Kairi asked.

"The nurses told me they could handle it and despite my reluctance I eventually agreed. Besides, someone needs to be there transport you, Riku and Minnie immediately out of there is something goes wrong." Merlin pointed out and Kairi nodded.

"So wait, you think Chip and Dale may be in danger? Is anyone at the Gummi Hangar?" Kairi's worry was starting to outshine her bravery. It was hard to believe she had so much strength to continue when she had just witnessed so many things.

"They could be. Also I'm sure that if they wanted to kidnap the Queen then they would send in someone more capable to do it, not a Heartless." Merlin answered.

"Like Abraxas then. We need to make sure Chip and Dale are safe first then. If they destroy the Gummi Hangar then no one will be able to evacuate. We'll have to rely on your magic and I'm not sure how many you can teleport out of here in a short time."

"Not to make excuse m'dear but I am quite exhausted at the moment and with the amount of Heartless around I doubt I'll get a break anytime soon. It won't be an easy job." Merlin told her. And so it was decided that Kairi and Merlin would need to head to the Gummi Hangar and secure it before heading to Minnie. She figured that Riku had her under his protection and Donald, Goofy and Max were also there so it shouldn't be that much of a concern.

"I just hope what I'm doing is the right thing." Kairi said before running down the hallway and continuing to slash through the weaker shadows leaving Merlin to handle the Large Bodies. Kairi pushed through the door into the gardens just slightly evaded a minute bomb. She soon turned around on the balls of her feet and used strike raid on the minute bomb taking it out.

"That move is pretty useful," She said to herself. She had seen Sora and Riku perform it a few times and she had been practicing quite a bit by chopping wood when helping with the restoration of Radiant Garden so she found her accuracy to be pretty deadly, "Okay, who wants some? I'm going to kick the stuffing out of you Heartless." She yelled as a few Wyverns and Hot Wheels appeared in front of her.

* * *

Riku took care of the Soldiers that were nearing the study room with stabs to each one before opening the door.

"Take this!" Minnie's voice could be heard as soon as he entered the room and Riku had to fall to the ground to avoid the pearl blast that was sent his way.

"Your majesty! It's me!" Riku exclaimed still recovering from what was a close call. The blast had seemed to have just scraped the tip of his hair.

"Oh Riku, I'm sorry. I thought it was a Heartless." Minnie said heading over to him from the desk.

"Yeah, because I look like a Heartless. It may not be my place to say this, your majesty, but maybe you should look before you leap?" Riku advised before getting up, "Where's Donald and Goofy?"

"They left all of a sudden. Apparently something came up." Max, who was perusing through a rather large book by the corner, replied. Daisy was also in the room sitting on top of the desk and staring rather blankly at the door.

"They left!? At a time like this? Those…. ARGH! Forget it. I'm not even going to- okay what was I going to say… oh yeah, we need to get out of here. It isn't safe for you here." Riku said conflicted between finding Donald and Goofy and chasing them out of the castle with his Keyblade and protecting Princess Minnie. He was leaning to the latter but if he did see Donald and Goofy on the way, he couldn't ensure that there would be no injuries involved.

"I can't Riku. Not until I see that my subjects have all been escorted to safety and I know this world is safe. That is my duty as queen." Minnie told him rather stubbornly.

Riku was about to argue but instead sighed, "There's no point arguing is there?"

"Good to see you've learned." Minnie smiled.

"Only because Mickey told me that once you have your mind set on something, it's hard to pull you away from it. So then what do we do?" Riku asked.

"Maybe you should defeat the person that placed the Heartless here. That guy that you were talking about earlier may have something to do with it," Daisy said suddenly. When everyone looked at her she backed away quickly gesturing with shaky hands, "of course I'm only guessing, you know? Seems like something that would be right to do, hah hah."

"Makes sense that they would be trying to exhaust us first. So the one behind this would be that guy in the black coat, Abraxas? If he's still here then I need to find him but," Riku looked towards Minnie again, "I can't have you come with me and at the same time I can't leave you alone to search for him."

As soon as Riku said this a loud explosion was heard from outside the castle. The room shook violently for a few seconds before everything was silent again.

"That can't be good." Max said who had dropped the book as soon as the tremor had started.

"Right, I have no choice then. Your majesty, uh, I mean Minnie, stay behind me at all times. Daisy, Max and Pluto you're coming too. Max, do you know how to fight?" Riku asked.

"Of course I do. Wait, you mean I actually get to fight for once?" Max asked. Judging by his reaction, Riku could tell that he probably had never fought before and that most of his time training had only been in theory department. Riku doubted Goofy would mind his son fighting considering this was such an important moment.

"And you've got my magic to help." Minnie joined in and Riku nodded before turning back to the door. Max grabbed a shield on the floor which Riku had seen him buy in Radiant Garden and walked behind Riku.

The silver haired boy breathed deeply before pushing open the door and blasting and hitting his way through the large quantities of Heartless that accompanied the area now. They pushed their way through Shadows, Large Bodies, Bolt Towers, Surveillance Robots and the elemental Heartless. Riku took the ones in his way out quickly to make sure they didn't have the chance to attack meanwhile Minnie covered him from the rear using her light magic to take out the Bolt Towers and Large Bodies that stood in their way. Max protected Daisy blocking magic sent by the Crimson Jazzes and Emerald Blues before throwing shield in a way similar to Goofy to take them out. Pluto stuck to tackling the smaller Shadows one at a time and leaving them vulnerable so as the other members of the party could finish them off.

The group were also helped out by a number of guards that were still in the area, although many others were injured or even dead from the attacks. It broke their hearts to see multiple people lying in their path and they could only dread to think what else was going on around the castle. In a sense, there was no way that these guards could have been ready for this. Regardless of the increased security, the attack on the cornerstone came as a shock to everyone and they hardly had time to recover from this. Not to mention, most of the soldiers had never really fought a Heartless before let alone so many of them, so it was easy to see how the creatures' rampant and spontaneous behaviour had caught them of guard. They appeared in droves and it would never truly stop until their leader was defeated or Minnie was kidnapped.

As soon as he got to the door leading to the courtyard, Riku was blasted back several feet by a blast near the door creating a large hole right through it.

"Riku are you alright?" He was asked by what sounded like an barely audible Max who was knocking back the group of Minute Bombs that were coming in through the hole.

"Dandy. Just dandy." Riku gritted his teeth and grabbed for his Keyblade before blowing his way through the Minute Bombs with a Fission Firaga. Riku got up slowly trying to balance himself, there was also this loud buzzing noise in his ear but he somehow managed to ignore it. Minnie asked if he wanted to take a break while she and Max covered for him, though that would have just been impossible for Riku. So he shook his head quickly and moved on, stepping through the hole and coming face to face with a recognisable face.

"Good to see you again, Hook." Riku told him, though he wasn't sure if Hook had heard him. He could barely hear him, due to the noise that was still buzzing in his air (albeit less now), the hundreds of Aeroplane Heartless flying high above the castle and the many knights and mages who were trying to take them down.

"Well if it isn't the little deserter. You had potential boy yet you squandered it." Hook said pulling out his sword.

"Is that what Maleficent. Tell her thanks for her concern but I could hardly stand being around her in reality… or you for that matter." Riku raised his Keyblade.

"I warned her to be careful near you though. You were highly unpredictable and could not be trusted, don't worry though, you won't be missed by me or Hades."

"Ah so you're still in contact with Hades huh? I guess you formed a new league of incompetent villains now? Speaking of Maleficent, where is she anyway? I was looking forward to chatting about the good old days again," Riku laughed. Hook was about to speak when Riku cut him off quickly, "Wait, don't tell me. She made you do the dirty deeds for her instead of coming here herself. Sounds just like her."

"You should be wary of what you say boy. After all, you don't know who might be listening." The voice of the snarky fairy was heard and a green flame appeared in between the two. The light was so bright that Riku, Minnie, Max and Daisy had to shield their eyes from it and once they had moved their arms away they saw Maleficent staring straight at them.

"Maleficent! When do you not give up?" Minnie said absolutely seething.

"If one gave up so easily then they would never achieve what they want," Maleficent answered bowing to mock Queen Minnie, "Look at your exuberant kingdom now your majesty. It only took one man to get so easily past your defences. And twice to count."

"Abraxas." Riku nodded. There was still the mystery of how this man had gotten past defence so easily and how he had entered the Hall of the Cornerstone without opening it up the normal way, but this also confirmed that Abraxas had been the one to kidnap the King.

"Enough. Give us back Mickey right now. What are you even doing to him?" Minnie asked.

"Do not worry Queen Minnie. We are taking fine care of his royal highness, after all, what would it do to have an ill King as a bargaining chip?" Maleficent laughed wickedly.

_That nostalgic laugh, urgh. _Riku frowned. Thankfully he had not had to put up with it as much back in the day but it still had been enough to remind him that before this caring motherly quality she had expressed to him when they had first met was a level of evil and cunning that could not be trusted.

"So what is it that you want?" Minnie sighed. She knew when she was defeated and she could stand to see the castle torn to bits and what was worse was the signs of death all around her with the Aeroplanes seeming to have the advantage against the knights so far.

"It's quite simple really. I had previously been interested in acquiring you-"

"Sorry. Acquiring? My friend isn't some sort of trophy that you can just acquire thank you very much you snarky old witch." Daisy shouted and Max had to hold her back from doing something that she would regret.

"Daisy, I appreciate what you just said but please be quiet. Continue Maleficent." Minnie said showing no particular emotion on her face. Riku had to back away and bend down just to give Daisy thumbs up before getting back up.

"As I said before, I was interested in acquiring you however due to unforeseen circumstances, my mind is now changed. Instead I want Kairi; however she will be spared if you agree to go anyway." Maleficent said.

"SHUT UP! I'm not letting you have either Kairi or Minnie!" Riku shouted running towards Maleficent and trying to slash at her. She, however, disappeared into green flame before he could get a direct hit and reappeared next to Minnie clasping her hands around the mouse's mouth.

"Minnie!" Max and Daisy yelled, Pluto barking angrily as well. Riku was unable to close his mouth to what had just happened. He had fallen for Maleficent's trick. It probably wasn't even one that she had just thought of on the spot as much as she had taken advantage of his anger, again. He hadn't been thinking at the time, just wanting to take out Maleficent as quickly as possible and because of his urgent need he had left open a blind spot for Maleficent to take her. Now if he tried to get towards her, she would just disappear with Minnie and Max could do nothing either to help the situation.

"Why Riku, are you sure there still isn't a position on my side that I can't offer you? Yet again you help me, even if you didn't mean to this time." Maleficent smirked holding Minnie tighter so she found it harder to breathe.

"Maleficent, no." Riku couldn't believe he was begging to Maleficent of all people but it had to be done.

"Well, your mistake can be fixed if you offer the Princess, but maybe that would be even a bigger one. You decide Riku, no one else. An entire kingdom in peril or your dearest friend?" Maleficent asked.

Riku was not going to think this through, he couldn't. Or rather, he wouldn't. If Minnie were actually able to talk she would probably be saying to take her in order to protect the castle and Kairi. But he didn't want to give up Minnie either seeing as they had already lost the king.

"He doesn't have to decide. THUNDER!"

A jolt of lightning hit Maleficent right on the head making her screech and releasing Minnie from her grip. Minnie soon turned around and used Faith to knock Maleficent away even further.

"How dare you! You will all pay in due time for this. I will have what is mine!" Maleficent said before disappearing in green flames again and this time not coming back. Riku turned around to see who had used the spell. It had been pretty obvious from the voice anyway but he still felt he needed to praise the magic spell caster.

"Donald! Goofy!" Riku said running up to Donald and Goofy and hugging the two of them.

"Uh, where's Riku and what have you done with him?" Donald asked as he was being squeezed. Minnie and Daisy soon joined in with the hug too and like always Max pretty much kept to himself instead finding comfort in Pluto, "Uh, seriously guys. We need to get going."

Meanwhile Hook was staring with a look on disbelief on his face. He cleared his throat once. Nobody heard him. Cleared it twice. Same effect.

"Argh, enough of this nonsense!" Hook cried out and moved in on the group.

"I don't think so." Max said seeing Hook out of the corner of his eye and threw his shield disarming the Pirate in the process.

"Fine then. Let's play it your way, HEARTLESS!" Captain Hook called and a few Aeroplanes surrounded the group.

"I guess I'll ask you the question of where were you guys later then." Riku said getting into his battle stance. The battle soon commenced with Aeroplanes raining down bullets towards them. Goofy and Max were able to cover Minnie with their shields and height while Donald and Riku took care of the Aeroplanes.

"Where's he off to?" Daisy said noticing Hook run off into the Gummi Hangar. His sword was also gone from where it had fallen.

"We'll deal with him later. That hangar is a dead end. As long as Chip and Dale stay quiet they should be fine. Unless there's Heartless there too." Riku yelled back flipping and smashing one of the Aeroplanes into another.

* * *

Kairi took care of the last Heartless present in the Gummi Hangar and sighed. Chip and Dale were by her side and cheered.

"Merlin. How's the launch pad working?" Kairi asked.

Merlin who was on the lower levelling replied, "The damage is quite minimal but nothing a little magic can't fix. I'm afraid though that the castle may be in a much more needed state of repair judging from that explosion."

"Then let's head back up. Riku and Minnie should be waiting for us. Then we can evacuate." Kairi said. Kairi, Chip and Dale waited for Merlin to come back to the upper level before starting to head back up when they saw the door open above them.

"Ah, I knew I had seen a pesky little rat wondering down here. Hello princess." Hook said as he closed the door behind him.


	28. Vanquishing Nightfall

**So FINALLY. It's been so long but I've finally got my broadband back and can FINALLY concentrate on Dual Destinies. I can't believe I'm saying this again but FINALLY. Anyway, now that I'm back, it's time for the final part of Disney Castle. Hope you guys enjoy?**

* * *

Chapter 28

Vanquishing Nightfall

There seemed to be a moment of thick tension as Kairi stared at Hook, as if trying to figure something out. In reality though, there really wasn't anything to figure out. Hook was one of those blood thirsty pirates like the ones she had read in her fairy tales with her grandmother. She had remembered one particularly about her grandmother reading to her about a lost world filled with treasure and the many pirates who tried to discover that treasure. It had always seemed incomplete to her however, because in the end no one had ever found the planet. If she had been the one writing, she would at least have distilled a sense of hope to the reader, maybe something to do with someone who wasn't as greedy as the pirates finding the world of jewels and riches finally. That was just her though and it wasn't as if she had thought this through as a child.

"Oh, you're that guy who got his behind knocked about by Sora right?" Kairi finally asked.

"Yes I am the guy who got his- WAIT WHAT?!" Hook's mouth hung wide open like a fish and he had to slam it back up to his normal state again, "No, that's not it at all! The name is Captain Hook if you please." He growled angrily at the red head who shook her head in response.

"You might as well accept responsibility; you got beat on pretty badly huh?" Kairi knew half from what Sora had told her and Riku of his travels and half of actually being there herself and residing in Sora's heart. Her own had actually felt the fluttery sensations of Sora's flying, maybe even just a tiny bit before Sora, possibly due to her belief in Peter Pan's words, or maybe just because it might have reached her heart first.

"Shut up you-" Hook paused and straightened up again, "You know what? I'm not falling for these games of yours. Instead I've come to take you aboard my vessel and that's that."

"I'm not very interested thanks." Kairi got into her battle position with Merlin right behind her. Chip and Dale scurried away out of the scene so as not to get in the way.

"It wasn't a choice, heh heh." Hook brandished his sword and pointed it straight at Kairi.

Kairi smiled before standing up, "In that case let's say we have a duel. It's a pirate's honour to abide by their opponents wishes right?"

Hook considered before standing up normally too and lowering his sword, "Okay, you've got me ears, spill it."

"So a one on one duel. If I win, you evacuate from the castle with the rest of the Heartless." Kairi said, she didn't want to pursue any further bets such as the return of King Mickey as Hook probably would be obliged to returning him, not to mention Maleficent, the actual higher up and leader of this attack would certainly not give him up. The best she could hope for was a compromise with one of the evil fairy's pawns.

"And if I win?" Hook asked grinning evilly. It seemed like he was getting interested enough to accept. Now for the final throw in the bucket.

"You get me and I'll even lead you to the other princesses. But I won't let you have this castle under any conditions." Kairi told him. It was a grave risk she was taking here but she could not allow this world to fall. If this world fell especially, then the world which was next was sure to be Radiant Garden which was pretty close. A closer base of operation would allow Maleficent to attack with full force if she needed to and Kairi assumed that the only reason she didn't attack with full force here was because it was too far away from where she was currently and it would have been risky to send everyone in and not get them all out easily.

"There's no reason for you to come with us to find the rest of 'em. What could you do that'll make our search easier?" Hook asked.

"Oh I can find them easier for you alright. I can pretty much sense their lights." Kairi said, though this was pretty much a lie. It may have been possible that she could but she never tried it. She knew her power had been used to locate the Keyblade Master when she had been sent from Radiant Garden to the Destiny Islands from an early age but she couldn't say she had exactly known who it had been. Even so, if she could sense her hometown from within Sora's heart she was sure she could have felt some presence of a heart of pure light as well.

"Is that so? Hmm," Hook played with his moustache for a few seconds. Eventually he stopped and smiled, "You drive a good bargain missy. I'll take it."

"Kairi, are you sure about this?" Merlin asked her as she walked up to shake Hook's extended claw.

"Don't worry. I won't lose to this guy," Kairi whispered. She went up the stairs and shook hands with him, "Let's do this outside."

"Actually, that place is crawling with Heartless. We don't want to go there." Hook said. In fact that wasn't the reason he didn't want to go there. He could care less if the Heartless helped him; in fact he was used to playing dirty. The main problem was Riku and the others, people he did not want to think about coming across again.

"Fair enough." Kairi simply said before turning back and summoning her Keyblade. This simply was not a good place to fight at all and her movement would pretty much be restricted. At times like these she sometimes had to imagine was she was thinking. There was no reason to have a duel and risk it all, so why was she so confident? Probably because she did have a certain advantage over Hook. Magic.

"Begin." Hook sneered drawing his sword once again and stepping down the stairs slowly. Kairi started throwing blizzards at the stairs causing them to become icy. Hook slid down the stairs and fell on his head much to Kairi's amusement. Though she had no time to stop and laugh things over. Kairi soon quick blitzed as Hook was about to get up knocking him into the air and sending him straight back down.

"Grgh. You nasty little brat. I'll show you." Hook said getting up and throwing boxes of small presents out of his pocket.

"What are you- Oh crap!" Kairi yelled and dodged as if by instinct as all the presents were rolled at her. The presents soon exploded causing her to step back and obscuring her vision of Hook in front of her. Kairi waited for the smoke to clear before looking straight in front of her to find Hook gone. Kairi looked around her mostly interested in what the pirate was going to do next. The area wasn't that big so he couldn't be that far of. It still didn't change the fact however that the area was plagued with machinery which made it harder to spot someone. If that was indeed the game Hook was playing, then she would have to play it too.

_A game of cat and mouse. This is going to be interesting._ Kairi looked up towards Merlin who had disappeared into the commentary box on the upper level. He had a pretty good bird eye's view of the area and probably would tell Kairi if he saw Hook.

Kairi jumped down from the platform onto the lower floor quickly and got into cover behind one of the larger machines. Peering around the corner she found no one, but still proceeded down to the next machine with caution. She tried to look for anything that she could use to her advantage. If she remembered correctly, the Gummi Hangar was split into three levels, the bottom level being where the ships launched, the middle being the engineering and research and development level and the top being where the Chip and Dale's commentator box was and the entrance to the castle.

She and Hook were currently on the middle level which was the probably the biggest and most crowded with equipment. Kairi scanned the area for anything that would help her in her battle. Surrounding the room were steel pipes connecting to each other in what seemed to be a maze of them. Kairi held out her Keyblade and shot a smaller fire spell than what was considered normal at one of the steel pipes. The result of the impact was a hole in the pipe and steam releasing from it, heating up the room considerably.

"YAARGH!" Hook jumped and scurried away as the on rush of steam almost hit the pirate in the face, this little reaction also revealing his location to Kairi.

Kairi moved in quickly and changed her strategy to physically attacking Hook who recovered quickly enough to dodge her attack.

"You dirty little scoundrel. Take this!" Hook yelled going into a flurry of vicious stabs with his sword. Kairi managed to guard each one (to her surprise) before finding a vulnerable spot and parrying his sword leaving Hook wide open to attacks.

"How about you take this!" Kairi said and mustering up enough strength, she pulled off a blizzard edge knocking him back into the steam.

"YAAAH!" Hook yelped jumping quite a height into the air and seeming to levitate for a second before rushing out of the Gummi Hanger. His shrieks could still be heard as the Gummi Hanger doors shut behind him.

"Yahoo! You did it Kairi!" Chip yelled through the intercom causing Kairi to look up and smile.

"I did, didn't I?" She said proudly as she put away her Keyblade.

"You sure showed 'em." Dale seemed just as ecstatic as his counterpart.

Merlin picked Chip and Dale up and disappeared from the box, reappearing next to Kairi, "By Arthur, you were wonderful Kairi. I had faith in you I did."

"Thanks Merlin," Kairi said tucking wisps of hair behind her ear, "Let's go and see how Riku and the others are doing."

* * *

Riku smashed his way through the Heartless as they rained down from the skies to attack the group. After Donald and Goofy had arrived, they had told Riku, Minnie and the others to head to the Hall of the Cornerstone, and that was precisely what they were trying to do now. The group were fully active as they pushed their way through the forces of Aeroplane Heartless and normal Shadows on the ground. Minnie's faith magic came into play here as she drove the Shadows away before they could get close enough to the group.

"Donald, Heatless at 9 o' clock!" Goofy yelled. Donald turned around in the appointed direction and used thunder to get rid of an Aeroplane Heartless.

"Thanks Goofy!" Donald replied before turning back to continue blasting through the Heartless on their way into castle.

"Riku!" Kairi yelled as she emerged from the Gummi Hangar with Merlin, Chip and Dale. She yelled his name a few more times but he seemed not to hear her, probably due to the enormous amount of buzzing in the air and the fact that the group were halfway across the courtyard from where Kairi was.

Max was held in an unfavourable position as one of the Aeroplanes continued to relentlessly assault him with its bullets, all he could do was duck, hold his shield in place and listen to the smack of the bullets pounding on the shield. Riku jumped into the air and stepped on one of the Aeroplanes near him in an effort to propel himself forward and take out the Aeroplane shooting at Max. Successfully he sliced through the Aeroplane's wings causing it to spin out of control and crash into another Aeroplane.

"Hah, try that one on for size." Riku smirked.

"Stop showing off and help us." Donald told him as he threw a fire spell at a pouncing Shadow.

Kairi slashed her way quickly through the Shadows with Merlin taking out the Aeroplanes that encircled them.

"Bring it, big boy." Chip said clenched his small fists as he came face to face with a shadow.

"Uh, I don't think you wanna do that Chip." Dale said dragging the other chipmunk away from the Shadow.

"Lemme at 'em. I can take 'em."

"So not happening."

Kairi stabbed her Keyblade into the ground, using zero gravity to send the Heartless near them flying into the air before ushering Merlin and the two Chipmunks to follow.

Riku and the group finally made it to the door, Riku slightly hesitating before opening it.

"Something wrong?" Minnie asked.

"No, I just don't want to be blown off my feet again is all." Riku chuckled before opening the door and allowing the others to go in before him while he deflected the shots sent down by the Aeroplanes. Just as he was about to close the door, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kairi and the others making their way towards him, also taking out Heartless in the process.

"Donald, Goofy, go on. I'll get Kairi and the rest here safely." Riku told them before rushing out before another word could be said. More Minute bombs appeared which Riku was able to dispose of quite easily.

"Kairi! You were in there the whole time?" Riku pointed to the Gummi Hangar, "Then… what about Hook?"  
"Don't worry, I took care him. We have to finish this; we can't allow this world to fall Riku." Kairi said.

Riku was honestly surprised. Was this the same girl Sora and he had wanted to protect for so many years? And now she was taking the initiative having defeated Hook and looking after the patients at the infirmary. She had definitely changed the most out of the trio. That was for sure.

"Riku, are you even listening right now?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I am." Riku gave a smile of satisfaction before turning around and heading back towards the door.

"Wait, is that all you can say? And what was with that smile Riku? Riku?" Kairi pouted before hurrying after him.

After taking out a few more Heartless, Riku arrived back at the door with the others and entered. As they moved through the hallway to the audience chamber, they saw the devastation of which the Heartless had inflicted on the castle and its inhabitants. More guards lay on the ground than previously, and none of the group really wanted to think about the worse situation as they continued on. While the hallway was now empty, the echoes of battle still seemed to resonate within the area, with pieces of the roof blown off at points along the hallway revealing the tiny rays of light shining from outside and leaving the debris on the floor. There were also scratches on the walls no doubt caused by the claws from Shadows. Looking out into the garden, the amount of Heartless seemed to be building up as guards struggled to hold their resistance though it was clear that they were losing. Maleficent's plan had been to tire out the entire of Disney Castle's defenders from the start, that, Riku was sure of. It didn't help either that the only way the Heartless could truly be defeated was if they were taken down with a Keyblade.

The group entered the audience chamber and met up with Donald, Goofy, Minnie, Daisy, Max and Pluto who were at the far side of the room by the throne.

"Before I boil you alive Donald, mind telling us why you left the Queen alone?" Riku asked.

"No, allow me the pleasure Riku." Daisy told cracking her fists.

Donald gulped before saying, "Now-now wait just a minute, you'll find out soon, right Goofy?"

"Ayup, that's right." Goofy chuckled. Minnie tapped underneath the armrest of the chair to open the passage below.

"So what exactly are we doing here again?" Kairi asked.

Donald swirled his staff in the air and struck it straight down pointing directly forward. There was a bright light for a second before a giant glass orb appeared on top of the pedestal.

"The Cornerstone!" Everyone bar Donald and Goofy exclaimed in surprise and delight.

"But how?" Minnie asked the two of them who were grinning wildly.

"Master Yen Sid got Donald to learn a really important spell. What was it now? Second detention? Direction?"

"Dimension!" Donald corrected Goofy.

"Second dimension? Ah yes, if I recall correctly, that spell is used to suck objects into another dimension where time moves slowly. I believe it's kind of like the chamber that I sent Sora to practice magic back in Traverse Town."

"Exactly, I also learnt another spell, Mirage. It pretty much makes a fake copy of the object or person." Donald finished.

"So the one Abraxas shattered was a-"

"Fake. Bogus. Imitation. Sham-"

"Okay okay, we get the point Donald. Still, you two did great." Riku smiled at them.

"Sorry we didn't tell ya sooner your majesty. We didn't know if Maleficent or anybody else would be listenin' in." Goofy told her.

"Oh that's quite alright Goofy. You two did absolutely wonderful, thank you," Minnie responded before walking over to the Cornerstone, "Ah now let's see. Oh…"

"'Oh'? That's a good 'oh', right?" Kairi asked.

"Unfortunately not Kairi. I'm afraid the cornerstone has- Mmph." Minnie was stopped in her tracks by the sudden violent shake of the castle.

"Was that the Heartless? Why are they still here then if the cornerstone's back?" Riku asked.

"Because the cornerstone has lost most of its light. It shouldn't be taken away from its pedestal and because of that most of its light has been sapped away by the other dimension." Minnie explained.

"Then, what happens now?" Asked Riku with a worried concern on his face.

"We have to restore its light." Minnie walked over to the glass orb and touched it. She closed her eyes and shone a bright white light which also seemed to cause the cornerstone to glow brightly as well.

"I'll help too." Kairi said mimicking Minnie's steps.

"You sure about this Kairi?" Minnie asked.

"I'm a Princess of Heart; I have a lot of light to spare." Kairi answered and Minnie smiled and nodded her head before closing her eyes and focusing back on the cornerstone. Riku and the others could only watch as Kairi and Minnie tried to restore the light of the cornerstone. Soon enough a bright light covered the entire room blinding everyone and causing Kairi and Minnie to let go of the cornerstone and cover their own eyes.

When the sound following the light had diminished, the group opened their eyes to find the cornerstone of light shining brighter than ever. Everyone gasped in amazement as they marvelled at the beautiful object in front of them.

"It's like a whole new cornerstone." Daisy commented breathlessly.

"Yes, it feels more powerful than the last, doesn't it?" Minnie said, she and Kairi also captivated by the sight in front of her. The room had also been restored to its crystal blue colour and remnants of Kairi and Minnie's light were now shown as sparkles filling the room.

"Right, let's see if anything's changed back up top." Riku told the group. Everyone nodded before heading back out.

They emerged out of the audience chamber happy with the sight in front of them. The Heartless in the garden were gone leaving exasperated soldiers lying on the ground absolutely wiped. Although, it didn't change the fact that the damage still remained and some had even lost their lives or were severely injured in the process. The group decided to split up and check around the castle. The pain and anguish that had been seen throughout the castle had boiled and potentially even swelled the anger in their own hearts. Kairi had decided to check the infirmary first to see if Aristabelle and the other nurses were alright and on the way came across dozens of bodies lying on the floor. The soldiers who were still alive did not seem too happy either, choosing to mourn deeply over the loss of their comrades. Kairi opened the door and stepped inside to the infirmary. It had seemed that there had been no casualties here except for the ones before the attack. The nurses were all cuddled in the corner of the room, hugging each other tightly for dear life. As soon as she saw Kairi enter through the door, Aristabelle got up.

"Miss Kairi? Are they all gone? Is everything alright now?"

Kairi could only smile weakly at her question. Even if they had saved the castle? The damage had already been done. Maleficent had managed to weaken the security of the castle, and to an extent, the world and it had only taken her a few hours. What she had destroyed, could never be replaced, that was those who had given their lives to protect their queen.

Aristabelle looked back to all the other and they all got up rather slowly. She eventually turned back to Kairi, "Thank you Miss Kairi. Thank you so much."

Kairi continued to say nothing, and only nodded.

Riku walked through the garden. It was more like a quiet stroll for him to gather his thoughts. He knew he ought to be checking out the castle, yet at the same time he needed think on things. While Merlin and the others catered to the injured and dead, he was out here walking alone, the cool breeze hitting his face and clearing him of all the anguish he had built up in these past few hours. What he knew was that the process of reconstruction was going to take a while and he and Kairi wouldn't be leaving Disney Castle anytime soon.

He eventually stopped in his place and placed his hands in his pockets before looking up into the sky, "Sora. Wherever you are, I hope you're alright. I could do with your optimism right now; I think we all could…"

* * *

"Wow, this is amazing!" Luna pressed her face to the window as she observed the gorgeous and colourful Osiris Nebula.

"Hey don't hog the screen all to yourself Luna. I wanna see too." Sora said sliding under Luna's arm to get a good look at the planetary nebula which they had just encountered while on their way to the next world. It had been a week after Luna had injured her leg and already she felt completely normal. Kupopo's medicines had no doubt helped with the speedy recovery not to mention she had been pretty inactive for the whole week so she and Sora were bustling to get back into the action.

"You hog the Ice Cream and the Coke; I get the window, kay?" Luna told him as she continued to stare out the magnificent beauty. Forming the shape of an eye and seeming to display all the colours of the spectrum, it would be hard for anyone not to be attracted to art like this.

"I can't help it. That Ben and Jerry's is soooo good," Sora grinned licking his lips, "Actually, I think I'll have some more of it right now."

"Oh no you don't. The way you're going, we're going to run out of food in a few more days…" Luna said turning her attention back to the nebula, "Besides, I'll be having that ice cream thank you very much." She added in quickly.

"You think we can get closer to it?" Sora asked after a brief pause.

"Let's see." Luna snickered.

"Let's not. I'd rather not die yet you two." Jiminy jumped up and down as if the other two were crazy.

"Oh dear. Is our little cricket friend afraid?" Luna asked pulling herself from the window and resting her chin on the console to look at Jiminy at eye level.

"Afraid. What-what in the- I said- No, not at all. We Crickets aren't afraid one bit thank you very much." Jiminy folded his arms and closed his eyes.

"Okay then, Sora, you know the drill."

"NOOO!" Jiminy blurted out causing Sora and Luna to burst out laughing.

"It's okay Jiminy, we're not that crazy. Well, maybe Sora is, but it's a good thing you have me here to stop him from make those silly decisions." Luna grinned.

"Well, I didn't think it was funny." Jiminy said angrily and sat on the edge of the console.

"Oh, come on Jiminy. We're sorry. At least join us in seeing this before the ship leaves." Sora said holding out his hand for the cricket to jump on.

"I'm still not forgiving yo- oh, she a rather pretty looking thing ain't she?" Jiminy said as the nebula immediately quelled his anger.

"That she is Mr Cricket. That she is." Sora said looking out. Luna joined the two and stared at it too. Seeing this, as well as many of the other stars out there, had given her the enthusiasm she needed to keep going. How could she quit this journey now, when the whole universe was available to her and Sora?

"I'm gonna see 'em all." She whispered.

"Huh?"

"The stars, I mean. The worlds, meeting new friends. I'm slowly but surely getting used to it. Moving between worlds and always wanting more. You get that same excitement Sora?" Luna asked him.

Sora smiled warmly at her before looking back, "Always."

* * *

**Strangely enough, Ben and Jerry's did not exist in the 50s (I'm assuming 101 Dalmatians takes place around there) so how did Sora and Luna get their hands on some? Well, for the sake of Kingdom Hearts, let's just say Yen Sid redecorated. **

**Also, if you had to choose anyone out of the guardians of light to die in KH3, which one would you choose. It's a harsh question if you like 'em all but I'm am curious. Anyways, next time we'll be starting the Land of Dragons which took a hilarious amount of planning for some reason. Until then, please review and follow the story for more. **

**Hopefully, you'll only have to wait a day or two for the next chapter by the way. **


	29. Hero of China

**Random and off topic but I just recently started watching House of Cards. It's a very enjoyable show so far the characters are interesting. Another off topic thing, I'm still waiting for news on FFX HD Square. How in the world is it taking you so long with that?**

**Now on topic, it's time for Sora and Luna to visit the Land of Dragons and boy was this a tough one to figure out. This world is definitely going to be a bit more light hearted and you'll see that in this chappie since there are pretty much no Heartless in it. It's also hard to fit Heartless in this world because if you've seen the second movie, you'd have an idea of why it's kind of tough to pull it off. Still, I think I've found a suitable way of tying them together. For now though, please enjoy the story. **

* * *

Chapter 29

Hero of China

For as far as most of Twilight Town knew, the Old Mansion had always been abandoned ever since its old owners had passed away. No one would dare venture past its iron gates either for fear of ghosts, or as one of the seven wonders had been, a girl by the second floor window. While it was very easy to dismiss these rumours, there was also something keeping people from entering whether it be their own will or that the gates had been locked for some time, at least before a certain event had happened anyway with a boy emerging from his sleep along with a duck and dog.

This Old Mansion, however, did have a particular resident residing in its walls, one who had taken it to be her second home. It wasn't as if the mansion had brought her lots of fond memories to cherish, it was actually the opposite, though at least it was better than her other 'home', more like prison really.

The blonde girl in a white dress was the only occupant of the building right now, and she currently was where she had been for a year or so, the white room. She decided to often come here when she wanted to clear her head or be alone from Roxas, Axel, Xion, Hayner, Pence and Olette. It wasn't that often that she had thoughts to visit her bird cage which she had been kept in by DiZ (or Ansem the Wise as he was known as) but she did feel it often suitable for her thoughts to linger here, and that's exactly where she left them. Her name was Namine and right now she was trying to decide exactly what to draw.

Namine scanned the white room looking at her various drawings, both on the wall and floor. They all related to one subject in some way naturally for her, the boy who had saved the worlds, Sora. Whether it was actually him and his friends there or Roxas, Axel and Xion, they were all still connected to Sora. Even her newer pictures, featuring Terra, Ventus and Aqua had all been people Sora had been connected too, even if he hadn't met them properly before they had been introduced.

What had surprised her more however was that she had never once drawn a picture of herself in a positive way. She had be subjected to imprisonment under Marluxia and Larxene and forced to draw herself, though she hadn't done so positively and she hadn't tried after she had been freed from their clutches either.

_I might as well try now… _Namine thought and opened her sketchpad. While she had been separated from Kairi for a good few months now, her mind was still connected to Sora, and so she often thought to draw things in relation to the spiky brunette. She had never really found out the origins of her powers. It was something Kairi didn't have and it was a truly dangerous power, the power to mess with memories in the wrong hands especially that of the Keyblade Master's, could leave disastrous consequences on the worlds. It had been something Marluxia had exploited and she had been called a 'witch' for by DiZ. She didn't intend to ever use those powers again.

She picked the coloured pencils and started to sketch a picture, as she continued to draw her mind began to wonder aimlessly thinking about Sora, Riku, Kairi and what they were up to now. She gasped and dropped her pencil and stared at the drawing in front of her. She had just drawn someone completely different than herself. Where had this person come from and why had she drawn them. It was a girl, with a lean petite body frame much like Namine and long dark blue hair. She had never seen this person before, nor did she think it was anyone related to Sora. Or was she? Namine laid her pencil and sketchbook down on the table and sat back on her chair utterly bemused.

On the Highwind, Luna woke up rather confused herself, the girl she had seen in her dream sitting in a chair a bright white room, could that have been Namine?

* * *

For Mulan, the bright yellow fields of maize, the healthy green bamboo thicket, the pure blue streams and the golden sun shining above them all had never seemed more perfect. It was as if all of nature was preparing her for this day and she was positive that absolutely nothing could go wrong either. She had waited awhile for this moment and she wasn't exactly sure how to act in the precise moment it happened. She had actually considered hiding in a bush and waiting it out simply because she had been so nervous in the morning, but when she had reconsidered that she was the hero of china, so dubbed by the emperor as 'China's bravest woman', how could she possibly hide?

Her parents and grandmother had also been prepping her up for this day, and now it had finally come. The day in which Shang would propose to her, her life would change, and something new would begin. As she walked in the fields she couldn't help but give a deep sigh of relief before squealing.

Flipping the laying rake up with her feet and catching, she proceeded to grip it with both hands similar to how she gripped her sword and struck down. It had really only been a while since defeating Shan Yu and it was good to know that she hadn't lost her touch. Of course, she wouldn't have nearly been as good without the help of her other friends, Sora, Donald and Goofy, speaking of which, she wondered where they were now.

"Hey Mulan!" A voice Mulan knew all too well called out from behind her. She turned her head to meet little Sha-Ron and the other daughters of the village people.

"Ah, nice to see you're all doing well. You are doing your chores aren't you?" Mulan asked kneeling down and smiling.

"Meh, chores are boring." Sha-Ron face twisted into disgust as she extended her tongue out.

"Yeah, we'd much rather be like you." Another of the girls said to which the others expressed their agreement by cheering.

"Yeah, I'd rather much be like her as well." Another voice was heard, one deeper and masculine. Mulan looked up in time to see Sora and Luna enter through the field.

"Sora!" Mulan yelled in surprise, "What a coincidence. I was just thinking about you. Where's Donald and Goofy?"

"To be totally honest with you, I have no idea. I'm kind of starting to miss them a bit," Sora sighed before pulling up his head, "But I've brought someone else with me this time, I'm sure you'll get along well with her, right Luna?"

Luna smiled and waved shyly, "Hello, I'm Luna; it's great to meet you Mulan."

"Same here. I didn't know you had a girlfriend Sora." Mulan said.

"WHAT?! Girlfriend? Nonono, you've got it all wrong Mulan. She's just a friend who I'm helping to find her home," Sora rushed through rather quickly with Luna looking shaking her head frantically in agreement, "besides, I would have told you if I had one when we last met. Okay, maybe not unless you asked but…"

"And that's quite enough of you. So, what are you guys up to?" Luna interjected quickly trying to change the topic before Sora continued his rambling.

"We were just about to learn how to be like Mulan." Sha-Ron told them.

"She so strong."

"And brave!"

"Courageous!"

"Fearless!"

"Sounds like the ideal warrior to me." Luna beamed listening to all the children's descriptions. From her smile, it seemed as if she had found a new role model, or at least as far as Sora could tell anyway.

"Wow, you make me sound like some sort of legendary warrior. I'm really not that." Mulan told them modestly.

"You're right, you're not," Sha-Ron said, "You're TEN TIMES BETTER than the rest of them put together!"

"Yeah, you're like… LEGENDARY legendary. Please teach us Mulan? Pretty please?" Another girl pleaded, the others echoing her words.

"Okay Min-Su. You and the others can all learn a lesson… but only if Sora does it with me."

"Huh? Me? Uh…" He looked at all the smiles of expectation on the children's face and sighed, "Why not, it sounds like fun."

"YAY!" The girls yelled finding their own sticks and picking them up.

"So you're going to teach us how to whoop enemy butt right?" Sha-Ron asked.

"Nope, that's lesson number two. The first is to be gentle, and at the same time, being tough." Merlin said gesturing the moves.

"Ah, how can you be tough and gentle?" Sha-Ron asked, the other girls also giving questioning glances, including Luna.

"I know it seems tough, but think of it this way. Earth and Sky. Day and Night. Sound and Silence-" Mulan started.

"Sun and Moon?" One of the children asked.

"Exactly Xiu." Mulan smiled.

"And light and dark." Sora joined in.

"Exactly. The world is full opposites, being tough and being gentle at the same time, while tough to balance, when they do, they work well together." Merlin told them all. Mulan continued on, explaining the specifics of being tough and at the same time, being gentle. About standing firm and defiant yet also agile and peaceful with one's self. Throughout this Luna listened intently, Mulan seeming to grow on her each time she talked, and how all the children seemed to listen to her and Sora just as much as Luna did also had an impact on her.

"If you can be as still and calm as the surface of the water, and move through the thicket as easily and fluently as the wind, then you're on your way to become a true warrior. Of course, I myself still have a way to go, what about you Sora?" Mulan asked.

"Do you even have to ask? You're making me feel all rusty and useless at the moment. I'll definitely have to try what you've said sometime." Sora replied watching while the other kids practiced what Mulan had taught them.

"Wow Mulan, that was so fascinating. You've definitely taught me a lot of things today, thanks." Luna said walking up to the two.

"Oh no problem Luna. It was actually Sora that taught me that anyway funnily enough." Mulan said.

"I told you… that?" Sora rested his chin upon his hand. He didn't even know this himself, how could he have taught her, "When was that again?"

"When you came here silly. Mind you it wasn't direct but when you, Donald and Goofy were with me, I mean Ping, there were many times when I wanted to quit and I started to become infuriated with myself. But you three always told me to keep holding on, and asked the general to give me another try. I was able to have enough patience to balance out my impatience and… well, you know what happened next." Mulan answered him.

"Wow. I guess you learn things even if you don't realise it as soon as you learn them." Luna said.

"Yep. So Mulan, any Heartless activity around here?" Sora asked.

Mulan's features changed to sadness, "Ah, I was afraid that was what you would be here for. It's weird, the Heartless suddenly decreased after sometime and now they started popping up tremendously, though they're mainly over by the imperial city, but the random two or three usually do pop up here from time to time. Do you have any idea on what's going on?"

"Not exactly. We've been noticing it too wherever we go. If I'm to understand, things just recently became like this." Luna said.

"Ah, we never did talk much about Xehanort did we Luna?" Sora said reminding himself to tell her about him later.

"No need to worry, I studied those journals in more detail. It wasn't like I could go anywhere for the past week." Luna told him.

"Why not?" Mulan asked curiously.

"I injured my leg. Wasn't really thinking much when I did it either." Luna said half truthfully, because she knew exactly what she had been thinking back then, _I have to save Sora_. It was more of her instinct though that had made her jump out of a moving vehicle however.

"Well, I take it that you've recovered then?" Mulan asked.

"Pretty much, the doctor ordered though that I take it easy when it comes to fighting, as in not pulling off any fancy moves." Luna remarked referring Kupopo as the doctor.

"Which also means no physical training," Sora said causing Luna to fake a deep sigh, "So what's going on around here? Is this your home?"

"Yes actually, and those are all the other villagers' daughters. As you can see, they've taken quite a liking to me ever since we beat Shan Yu but it does kind of get annoying sometimes." Mulan said.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Sora nodded feeling her situation was similar to his own after defeating Xehanort. There was suddenly an ecstatic amount of giggling and yelling from the girls. Mulan, Sora and Luna turned in the direction they were looking at to see Shang in impressive imperial guard armor riding towards them on his horse.

"It's General Shang!" Sha-Ron exclaimed as he got nearer. She and all the other girls ran up to him while Luna gave a questioning glance to Sora.

"He's the emperor's guard. And also Mulan's special someone. By the way Mulan, has he-"

"Shut up Sora." Mulan gritted her teeth giving him a playful elbow to his shoulder.

"Hello little warriors," Shang said greeting all of the children before getting off his horse and pulling off his helmet, "Ah Sora! Where have you been?"

"There and back again." Sora said excited to see the General again.

"That seems to fit the warrior description. And who is this young lady may I ask? It's a pleasure to meet." Shang said bowing humbly.

"Oh, it's nothing really. I'm just Luna, but you can call me Luna." Luna blushed and then shook her head quickly.

"Hah hah, good to see you picked a funny girl Sora." Shang tried to compliment.

"Funny, yeah… wait, what do you mean 'picked'?" Sora asked feeling he was about to tear his hair out, why did everyone assume he was going out with her? Both Mulan and Shang, and now all he needed for the cherry on top was Mushu to rub it all in.

"Oh yeah, where's Mushu by the way?" Sora asked.

"Well he is a guardian. I'm sure he has a lot of important things to do now." Mulan answered.

* * *

Somewhere not that far off, Mushu was having the absolute time of his life. He could do anything he wanted and best of all, he didn't have to work his dragon tail tirelessly all day do the ancestors chores. No more, scrubbing Stinky Pete's feet, or giving back scrubs or, even worse, clipping toe nails. Oh! The thought sent shivers down his spine, so much so that he could puke if he ever saw another toe nail again.

"That's right, make that stairway, chop chop!" Mushu clapped his hands. Much to the reluctance of the ancestors, they had no choice but to obey his command. He was after all, the guardian of the hero who had saved China.

"Ah! A stairway to heaven! I'm finally at the top. Yeah, that's right, suck it ancestors, heh heh." Mushu couldn't help but walk up the stairs very slowly and dramatically, pausing to say "Thank you!" every once in a while as if he were appeasing to an entire audience.

"Oh just get it over and done with already!" The first ancestor yelled.

"He's stalling, what a surprise." The second ancestor said sarcastically.

Mushu after a few more seconds of showing off finally got to his nice tub and jumped in, adjusting to the temperature of the water before sinking in.

"Hey, play that song you always tell me to sing when I scrub your back." He said to one of the ancestors beside his tub as he put on his shower cap.

"Oh, please no. I just wanted to embarrass you with that." The elderly blind ancestor moaned seeming to want to claw his eyes out.

"Ah ah ah. That's not a part of the song is it?" Mushu said.

The ancestor sighed before starting to sing:

"It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all

It's a small, small world."

Mushu nodded his head to the tune while he scrubbed his back. After listening to the ancestor finish the song Mushu whistled.

"Well doesn't that song just lighten up your day huh? Mmmhmm."

"I'll get you back for this." The ancestor growled quietly at Mushu before retreating from Mushu's line of sight. Indeed nothing could dampen Mushu's day. It would take something real devastating to do that, and what were the chances of that happening?

* * *

After realising that the children would be a nuisance at this point in time, Shang had decided to find a secluded place to talk with Mulan. Sora and Luna had been left alone and eager to know what was happening that Shang believed to be kept between just the two of them.

"What do you think he wants to tell her?" Sora wondered aloud.

"They're boyfriend and girlfriend right?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, from what it looked like anyway." Sora confirmed, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Then it's obvious silly. He's going to propose to her." Luna said it in a matter-of-factly tone.

"Uh, is it really that obvious? It could just be his birthday or something." Sora said.

"That's no reason to have to ask to be in private. I don't really know much, or remember anything really, about the whole process. I wish I could see them." Luna grinned.

"Yeah that would be something huh. It's just such a shame that they asked to be alone. Oh well, too bad." Sora said playfully.

Luna smiled and gave a wink, "Right, but if they don't know we're there…"

"Well, let's not just stand around then, we'll go through the thicket and hopefully emerge on the other side." Sora said snapping his fingers. The two made their way into fairly dense bamboo forest and kept to the left which had been the direction Mulan and Shang had gone in.

Soon enough they arrived in the garden and could see Mulan and Shang up close walking towards the bench nearby them. As long as they stayed out of sight and hid deep within the trees, then it was unlikely that they would be seen.

Mulan sat down by the bench and Shang knelt down in front of her. She knew what was coming next and she had just decided she was completely ready for it. The most she could do was lose composure anyway.

"Here it comes." Luna whispered getting way to giddy for her own good. Sora had to shush her before she accidently revealed their location.

"Uh Mulan? I was wondering…"

"Yes?"

"If you'd…"

"Yes, YES?!"

"Marry me?"

Mulan yelled in delight and jumped into Shang's arms, Mulan's squeals of delight being loud enough for Luna to make a quick squeal of her own and allowing Sora to pump his fists in to the air.

"Go get her!" Sora whispered.

"They're gonna do great, I just know it," Luna said smiling. Suddenly she felt something small but spring jump on top of her head, "Jiminy, is that you?"

"Is what me?" Jiminy said coming out of Sora's hood.

Luna eyes suddenly widened, "If you're there, then what is on top of my head?" She moved her hand up slowly and brought the thing that was resting upon it down, "Oh, it's a cricket. How are you doing?"

Suddenly the cricket sprang to life scaring her and causing her to scream and fall out of the trees. She didn't fall though without dragging Sora with her.

Mulan and Shang who had heard the loud crash behind them turned around to find Sora lying on top of Luna and the cricket jumping up and down his back.

"Spying on us eh? Good work Cri-Kee." Mulan giggled.

"Thwarted the enemy spies' plans. You may have a future in the army yet." Shang laughed while the proud cricket had finally jumped off Sora's back.

Luna in the meantime, could pretty much feel Sora face on her chest and blushed for a few seconds before throwing him off her and getting up.

"OW! So… much… abuse right now!" Sora croaked. Finally getting up, he brushed himself off and walked over to Mulan, Shang and Luna, "I guess we owe you guys an apology huh?"

"We're sorry. We were just so excited to see the proposal." Luna said.  
"It's alright; I probably would have done the same thing. Besides, now we get to invite you to our wedding." Mulan told them.

"Really? We'd love to!" Sora said. Luna clasped her hands together and nodded in a childish manner.

"We had a feeling you would say yes. Time to begin the preparations!" Shang said and together the four of them (or five if you counted Cri-Kee) walked back to the house where Mulan's parents and grandmother were waiting to welcome them.

* * *

No quicker had the day passed than Pete returned to the Bizarre Room completely empty handed. Alice was absolutely nowhere to be found and he could not hazard a single guess as to where she could even possibly be. It didn't help that he was stuck with David Xanatos, a man who took every instance of his time diminish whatever morale Pete had, and even if he could come up with a retort, Xanatos merely brushed it off like one would brush off a mere insect. He had to admit one thing however, that their insult throwing did make for an entertaining ride, it was once they got to the world itself, that Pete often felt it would drag on.

Xanatos was none too pleased with their journey so far either. No matter where they searched, no traces of Alice had been seen by any of the crazy characters living in Wonderland. Thankfully he was the patient time. He expected the journey to capture the seven princesses would take some time, and he knew that the obstacles that stood in their way, the Keyblade masters, would be difficult to beat, at least through brute force. Was the power of the Keyblade truly as wonderful as described by Maleficent? He had never encountered one but now he was beginning to wonder if it was truly worth pursuing the princesses when the Keyblade was just as viable an option.

"Pete, what do you know of this Keyblade?"

Pete turned to him, a mixture of surprise and anger on his face, "Oh, now you wanna talk to me huh? Well forget it."

"Don't be so childish. If you want us to succeed then this is important information you must share with me." Xanatos said as he watched the new ruler of Wonderland, the white queen, take the throne.

Pete considered this for a second, "Well, I don't know much about it actually. It has some sort of magical prowess surrounding it and you can't just take it. It seems to choose its user."

"And this is through strength or…"

"Strength of heart according to Maleficent." Pete answered him still not sure what Xanatos found so interesting about this information that he could use it to help him in the current mission.

"I see. That is interesting." Xanatos muttered to himself as he walked back into the Lotus forest.

"Hey, you gonna tell me what's up. Oh who am I kidding, of course you won't." Pete said following Xanatos into the forest.

"I don't think she's here. We've searched up and down and we've yet to find her. I don't think she's here." Xanatos repeated.

"Yeah, that's what you just said." Pete said.

"Not what I'm talking about. I don't think she's in this world at all. That white rabbit in specific mentioned that he hadn't noticed her in her normal spot by the tree in the other world for quite a few days." Xanatos explained.

"So uhm, what does this mean?" Pete asked.

Xanatos gave a sly smile to Pete, "Well, she can't just leave the world by herself can she? So that leaves only one other option- we have a kidnapper on our hands."


	30. The Guardian Protection Programme

**I know everyone, it's been a long wait but it's finally here. I really have no excuse except that I needed a break especially after failing my Chemistry exam. Passed Psychology though but that's besides the point. I will not make excuses here, but just be forewarned that exams are coming up in May and I really need to do good in them, especially Chemistry, but anyway for now enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 30

The Guardian Protection Programme

Mushu couldn't have possibly been more overjoyed at hearing the news that Mulan and Shang would be getting married. After Mulan had told him, he had a full burst of enthusiasm, trying to organise the wedding and even the dresses that Mulan would wear. While Mulan appreciated the small dragon helping her, his style wasn't exactly… suitable to her needs. Needless to say, it was the thought that counts and Mushu was doing all he could to help his girl out.

Mushu walked briskly into the family shrine and clapped his hands loudly, drawing the old coots' attentions to him. Slowly the ancestors came to life, their lives clearly not happy with what they had to live with at the moment.

"Wake up, waaaake up! Move it or lose it, I have a special announcement to make." Mushu exclaimed pushing past one of the grumpiest ancestors of the bunch.

"What is it now?" The head ancestor's voice dragged slowly.

"Whatever it is I'm sure it will be _amazing_ news." Another one, which Mushu had taken to calling 'Harpy' for his love of music, said sarcastically.

"You bet it is. Now listen up. Mulan's getting married!" Mushu told them.

"Sorry, did you just say what I think you just said?"

"Of course I said what you think I just said? You think I'd joke 'bout something like that? Now, we're gonna need a list of materials to make Mulan's dress, some decorations will also do while you're at it. Hurry up y'all." Mushu said.

As Mushu spoke, the ancestors looked amongst one another with looks of satisfaction on their faces. Of course Mushu was too self-absorbed to notice… that was until he bumped into the head ancestor.

"Hey, move it or lose it, we ain't got all day. Hey, why are y'all smiling like that… guys? Guys?" Mushu laughed nervously. He could very easily tell that whatever the ancestors were about to say next was not going to be pleasant news.

"Looks like you're off the job! Didn't you know when you signed the contract?" The head ancestor asked.

Mushu gave questioning glances to the all too confident looks around the room, "Contract? Where was what in the contract?"

"Small print." The head quickly said drawing out a piece of paper out of nowhere. Mushu immediately recognised it as the contract he had been made to sign to become the guardian of the Fa family. Mushu slid on his reading glasses and scrolled down to where the ghost was pointing with his finger.

"Let's see now… da da da, 'contract with household', 'guardian's duty…' Ah! 'If the subject is found to be married and is female, she is said to join under the husband's family name and therefore their ancestor's house, in which case the current guardian must… SURRENDER THEIR TITLE AS GUARDIAN AND RESUME THEIR PREVIOUS DUTIES?!"

There it was in all its glory of a ridiculous size 8 font. Mushu had never previously seen the line before so it was very much all news to him. He truly had thought that it was all going to be uphill from here… and then this? Was he to be subjected to backrubs, clipping toe nails and signing for the rest of his life?

The elderly blind ancestor pulled out a sponge and a bucket of water, just like the head ancestor, from nowhere. Mushu had to wonder how they did that and whatever the trick to it was, he needed in. Right now though, curiosity and interest were but minor things on his mind. Instead, a sense of dread filled his very core and he could only shiver as he realised his pedestal would soon no longer be his.

* * *

Luna parried an attack quickly from Sora's Keyblade and drove her palm face forward to Sora's chest, pushing him backwards a little bit.

"Great work Luna. Just a put some more force behind it." Sora told her as he got back into his battle stance. It had been Luna who had been the one to suggest the move of pushing the person back to increase distance between her and them. Of course, it wouldn't work on Heartless but someone roughly the same size as her or slightly taller would still be susceptible to the push and while her leg was still under assessment, she wouldn't be able to exert much force into the push. Still, it did come to her mind that defence was more important than offence so she focus on her guarding and dodging.

Luna was about to ready her Keyblade when she remembered her dream the night before. The reason for her sudden recall hadn't really been anything particular, maybe the cool evening breeze hit against her face had reminded her in a subtle way of the feel of the room the girl in the white dress (which she presumed to be Namine) had been in.

"You alright Luna? Something on your mind?" Sora asked. Three weeks with Luna had been enough to identify when she was worried about something, or even hiding something. Luna had not intentions of hiding anything to Sora however. She just hadn't found the right time to tell him about it, at least, not until now.

"I think I saw Namine. I was in this really white room and a girl with blonde hair and a white dress was sitting at the table drawing something. I don't know how, but something just clicked in my head that she was Namine." Luna explained and soon after waited patiently for his response.

Sora gave quite the pause before talking, "You saw Namine huh? And that room you saw her in must have been Twilight Town then. Well, we know where we're going after the Coliseum then."

"You think Namine knows something about where my memories are?" Luna asked.

Sora gave a definitive nod, "It's worth a shot. She once told me though that memories are never lost for good, there just sleeping deep within, waiting to be awakened. I'm sure it's the same for you. We'll just have to be patient for now. But yeah, I'm sure Namine will have answers of some sort for you, and you can also meet the others."

"Others?"

And so Sora told her about Terra, Ventus, Aqua, Roxas, Xion and Lea as well as the trio of Hayner, Pence and Olette. Luna had of course remembered reading about the first six of them in Jiminy's Journal and remembered them fairly well. After all, they were important in defeating the 13 darknesses. Luna however, did not know much about Hayner, Pence and Olette though from what she was told, they seemed like a friendly and welcoming bunch.

Sora finished his tale and Luna shook her head to confirm she understood, "Sounds like a plan then. But let's head back to Radiant Garden first; I want to see how Kairi and the others are doing."

"Yeah, me too!" Sora said unable to hold his excitement in at the prospect of seeing his friends again.

Sora and Luna continued to train until the last glimpse of red disappeared beyond the horizon covering the garden in darkness. Mulan's family had been kind as to give Sora and Luna the guest room of the house, a rather small room they would admit, but it did its job.

"So where do you think the keyhole is? You've been here before right?" Luna asked as she rested her head on the pillow.

"Not exactly here, but if I had to guess… the emperor's palace?" Sora said not really too sure himself. It would certainly make sense though he wasn't exactly excited about looking for a keyhole that could be anywhere else. The last one had annoyed him enough already being in the last place he would've expected to look.

There was also the problem of finding the King. Mulan hadn't seen anyone by the description Sora had given of the mouse nor had she seen anyone with a black coat, which from what Sora had gathered from Luna's story about when she was in Traverse Town, seemed to be a suspicious character. He would have hoped that Riku had begun his search for the King by now but he had no way to get into contact with him.

"Meh, I'm not worried much anyway. We usually find the keyhole anyway without having to look much. I'm sure that if we just keep doing what we're doing we're bound to come across it eventually." Sora gave a long yawn then turned on his side to face Luna.

Luna smiled, "Well if that's what you think, I'll trust you. Man, I can't wait for Mulan and Shang's wedding, have you ever been to one Sora?"

"A wedding? No, can't say I have. There was this one time, when a boy on my islands' parents were getting married, around when I was about five. Me and Riku just completely left under everyone's noses and headed for the other island. We have two, one is the main island and there's another one just behind it where we hang out. There we stayed and played hide and seek on the island. It's pretty big so it was certainly hard to find each other." Sora reminisced.

Luna grinned, "Sounds like a dream island to me. Why did you want to leave in the first place?"

"I already told you that. We were just bored and Riku suddenly came up with the idea. It seemed good at the time." Sora said.

Luna shook her head, "That's what I don't understand. It doesn't seem that boring to me the way you've described it. Then again, I've yet to see the other worlds out there…"

Sora took another glance at her before staring back up at the ceiling, "Say Luna. If we don't find your hometown, and that's a big IF by the way, how about living on the islands with Riku, Kairi and me?"

Maybe it had been too soon of a suggestion to make. Would Luna now think he was purposefully not trying hard enough to find her world in order to stay friends with her? Or maybe even think that he believed that her world had already been taken by the Heartless? He certainly didn't believe the latter and while he did want to stay in contact with her, he knew he could always visit her in her world if he wanted.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea Sora. I wouldn't mind at all, but where would I live?" Luna asked fortunately quelling Sora's fears.

"Hmm, I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind having another extra mouth to feed. Then there's Kairi's place, if her parents are up to it," Sora stated his thoughts, "Ah, it's too soon to talk hypotheticals. Forget I said anything, we'll definitely find your world Luna."

"Right. Yeah. Anyways, g'night!" Luna told him before she shifted onto her side. Sora noted the slight disappointment in her voice but said little further except responding his own goodnight before falling asleep.

The loud sound of a rooster signalling a new day woke both Sora and Luna with a start. Usually it would not have been such a problem had the source of the noise been farther away, but this rooster was very close by.

"Will someone shut that chicken up?" Sora pulled out his pillow from underneath him and enclosed it around his ears to muffle the sound while he tried to get back to sleep.

Luna however, was thankful to be waking up. She had had yet another dream revolving around Namine and her constant confusion surrounding the girl she had drawn. It didn't mean anything to Luna and it was annoying her that she actually felt like she was taking on Namine's confusion half the time, even if that confusion was really just her own.

"Sora, wake up you lazy bum, we've got some preparations to take care of." Luna jumped up trying to pull off ecstatic and ending up looking just plain tired.

_Lazy bum… Wonder where I've heard that before? _Sora thought sarcastically before slowly scooping up into position similar to that of a caterpillar. Eventually he lifted himself and waited for a few seconds before stretching and giving lengthy yawn.

"Good morning!"

A call was heard from just outside, the source of the voice coming closer until they appeared by the door. It was Mulan, who seemed to be all too perky.

"I can tell you had a nice sleep." Sora commented as Mulan took several steps into the room.

"Oh, so you noticed?" Mulan giggled before looking over at Luna, "He wasn't snoring was he?"

"Huh? Where did that come from? I don't snore!" Sora jumped back startled at the sudden accusation.

"But Shang does. I must admit, it's kind of cute." Mulan said.

Sora made a disgusted face, "Urgh, the less I know about the captain's snoring habits, the better." Mulan had to quickly correct Sora about Shang's status and that he was now in fact the title of General after the battle against Shan Yu.

"Don't worry though; I didn't notice anything last night that was incriminating Mulan," Luna responded to Mulan's question giving a sly smile. In fairness, she had fallen asleep long before should would have noticed whether Sora had started snoring, and it wasn't as if she usually slept in the same room as him. Sora shook his head and silently questioned why they were on this topic to begin with.

"Wait so you were actually sleeping with him then?" Luna asked. It wasn't hard for Sora and Mulan to catch the light of intrigue shining out of her eyes.

"Oh no! He was in the other guest room." Mulan answered rather quickly. It had seemed that she had still not grown accustomed to the idea that she would pretty be sleeping with Shang come their marriage.

"And you heard his snoring all the way from your room huh?" Sora asked knowing that someone was going to be using this as leverage against Shang, if not Mulan then probably Luna or, even Sora had to admit, he wouldn't mind teasing the General every now and then about it.

"I actually woke up in the night and decided to check up if he was okay." Mulan told them.

"But not me? Aw, I'm offended Mulan." Sora said playfully causing Mulan and Luna to laugh.

"Yup, Sora's often lonely and needs someone to babysit him every once in a while." Luna added in though Sora couldn't say he found it remotely humorous in the slightest in comparison to the two girls in front of him.

Instead Sora shot back in the most childish voice he could possibly muster, "Nuh-uh, they always told me I was independent, at least my mommy said so."

Sora smiled proudly at his accomplishment as Mulan and Luna fell down into fits of giggles which could have lasted hours on end, but thankfully only lasted about 22.5 seconds, Sora wasn't counting.

Their laughter came screeching to a halt when Shang burst into the room, "Heartless!" He simply said. The one word was all that was needed for Sora, Luna and Mulan to know there was danger afoot. Sora had expected it sooner or later, the Heartless were drawn to the Keyblade after all. Luna on the other hand, was perhaps hoping that she wouldn't have to fight any Heartless, at least not for a while.

"Well I guess the peace was fun while it lasted." Luna stated casually summoning her Keyblade.

"Don't tell me you expected us not to have to fight?" Sora asked rather meekly. It was quite unfortunate that he had come to expect to never receive a break other than on the Gummi Ship during his previous adventures.

"No, I expected it. I just wanted to have a break. So much has happened to me this whole month you know? I know I was pretty much inert for a week on the Gummi Ship while my leg recovered but I wouldn't exactly object to just making new friends without having to worry about Heartless and keyholes." Luna explained.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Sora sympathised with her. For Luna, it had really all happened out of the blue just like it once had for him. Sora, Mulan and Luna followed Shang, with Mulan picking up her sword on the way, and headed out onto what Sora and Luna had considered peaceful yesterday, a chaotic garden today where several Heartless consisting of Centaurs and Bolt Towers stood in their way.

"What are those?" Luna asked glancing from one type of Heartless to the other every so often.

Jiminy peered out of Sora's hood to take a look. Luna had to admit that she had totally forgotten about the cricket and his sudden habit of popping out at the most random of times.

"Those are Assault Riders and Bolt Towers if I remember correctly. Want me to give ya a bit of advice?"

"That would be just dandy." Luna told him as she, Sora and Mulan got into their battle stances.

"When those Assault Riders attack, be sure to guard their attacks." Jiminy said before jumping off Sora's hood, extending his umbrella and using it as a parachute to land safely on the paved ground.

"Jiminy, you may as well I have just told me 'don't die', but thanks anyway." Luna still did want to test out these Heartless' attacks for herself and so ran in quickly only to jump back at the same speed following an attempt at a slash from the Centaur. Watching Sora as well, seemed to prove Luna's theory that, if she was going to attempt to take on the Centaurs it would be better to be safer than sorry and so for that she would have to rely on magic.

Both Sora and Luna stayed their distance while casting blizzards repeatedly to take care of the Riders meanwhile Mulan and Shang handled the Bolt Towers by luring them and therefore their powerful shockwave attacks away from the Keyblade wielders. Consequently, because of over carelessness and the harsh amount of recasting involved, both their energy began to drain at a rapid pace, Luna more quickly than Sora's. Luna fished into her pockets and pulled out two plastic bags filled with golden liquid and threw one over to Sora. Thanks to Kupopo's synthesis skills, Sora and Luna were this time more prepared than they had been previously though they could still only carry a limited amount of items in their pockets. As they downed the maple syrup flavoured liquid, they immediately felt pleasant feelings wash over them from the taste, Luna being no stranger to this as being treated to it before.

It did not take long before Sora and Luna had defeated the centaur-like creatures, mixing their offence in with dodging to keep out of the way of their ramming attacks. In the distance they saw Mulan and Shang take out one of the two Bolt Towers before focusing on the other one. Sora and Luna ran up to them and provided their assistance, taking out the Bolt Tower in no time at all.

"That went surprisingly well." Shang said sliding his sword into its hilt.

"Well, at least there weren't more-"

"Don't jinx it. Please?" Sora begged cutting of Mulan.

It turned out Sora's hopes were about to be dashed away like it was nothing, for a bigger problem was just about to hit the surface. The sound of distant gallops could be heard nearing the group, their eyes wandering around to locate the source of the sound of what appeared to be hooves and their hands ready to draw in case any enemy who they had missed appeared.

Mulan was the first to spot them and alerted the group as soon as it came closer. A man clad in what appeared to be heavy armor steadily approached them, his horse jet black with a rather wild mane.

He soon stopped just short of them, Shang seeming to recognise the man according to his features of blatant surprise.

"What's the matter? Is the emperor alright?" Shang asked concernedly.

The man nodded, "Yes, but he needs your immediate attention. There is a problem concerning his daughters, that's all he told me."

Shang looked down prudently before returning his gaze to the other man, "I see. I will be there right away."

"I'll join you too." Mulan jumped in quickly certainly not wanting to be separated from Shang and wanting to hear whatever the emperor would want along with him.

"I wouldn't have it any other way. You up to another mission soldier?" Shang turned his attention to Sora. He hadn't even known the brunette for that long and he could already tell that wherever Mulan would go, he would go to help her.

"It's three for the price of one. Look like you're getting a good deal out of this General Shang." Sora grinned lazily, but rather confidently at the same time and Luna grinned too and gave a firm nod though without the cocky grin Sora displayed.

"Do we even have enough horses though?" Shang enquired.

Mulan saw this as a minor problem however. The fact that the only horses in the stable were her own and Shang's mattered very little when the solution was easy to figure out, she and Shang would ride together on his horse while Sora and Luna would ride on hers. When she suggested this, there seemed to be no objections so a decision was reached very quickly.

"Okay, go on ahead. We'll be there shortly after." Shang told the messenger who nodded, turned around on his horse and galloped through the golden maize.

A few minutes had passed while the group, now joined by Jiminy, discussed the sudden request from the emperor with Mulan's father, mother and grandmother. Eventually Sora, Luna and Jiminy had been told to wait by the stables while Mulan said her goodbyes to her family. On their way there, they conveniently met up with the small dragon guardian himself who seemed to be looking around for something.

"Hey Mushu! What's up lately?" Sora asked as he, Luna and Jiminy walked up to him and a cricket similar to the one which had been on Luna's head earlier, unless it was the same cricket.

"Ah, Sora! How's it been hanging? I'm doing great at the moment. Say, do you know where Mulan is at the moment?"

"Oh she's talking to her parents along with Shang. Say, what are you exactly? A lizard?" Luna bent down to inspect him closely but fell backwards with a start when Mushu started to rage.

"A lizard? I'm a bona fide guardian dragon! Do I look like a lizard to you?"

Luna stared blankly for a second, "Yes."

Mushu lowered his face into his hand and shook it clearly frustrated by the girl's analysis of him.

"Oh come on Mushu, you hardly do look like a dragon, you have to admit. At least not one I've seen." Sora mused.

"Oh. And I suppose you've seen one of these dragons before, huh? And they could do this?" As if from nowhere, Mushu breathed a ball of fire into the air and Luna felt her heart skip a beat… or maybe two, as she could the close and intense heat from the flames.

"Okay okay! I get the point. You're a dragon, point understood." Luna accepted, feeling rather annoyed as Mushu stopped.

"Actually that was just gas from eating a chilli burrito; the ancestors cook a mean dish. I just couldn't help but let it erupt," Mushu added after seeing the disgust in Sora and Luna's faces, "You know, better out than in they say and all that." what followed next was unfathomable and painstakingly awkward silence. Indeed, the silence had been so long that even the birds had fallen silent in their early morning songs. Neither Sora and Luna were sure how to interpret this and would rather have been distracted with anything else at the particular moment in time than what Mushu had to say about exertion of such a thing that mattered little to either of them, nor did they want to know.

They could not have been anymore happier then, when they could hear Mulan and Shang's voices from close by.

"Is everyone alright?" Mulan asked to which from the weird pause, she could guess, "…I guess not."

Shang looked down towards Mushu, "Huh? So this is the legendary guardian Mushu. I've heard a lot of things about you from Mulan, almighty dragon."

"Wait- wait, you told him about us Mulan?" Mushu seemed baffled by this though Mulan could not figure out why.

"Of course I did. He is going to be my future husband after all so why should I hide things from him?" Mulan asked him as if it was a silly question. It was.

"Oh forget it. Anyway, can we talk Mulan… alone?" Mushu asked. Cri-Kee seemed rather suspicious but was quickly pushed aside by Mushu when it seemed as if the cricket was about to give a tiring rant, though no one seemed to notice this.

Mulan sighed, "We can't right now Mushu. The emperor's asked for us to come to the palace. We have to go immediately."

"Well then, at least take me with you. After all, wherever you go I go, right girl?"

Mulan giggled, "Of course Mushu, you are my friend after all."

With that, Sora and Luna mounted onto Khan, Mulan's horse, with Jiminy Cricket being lifted onto Luna's shoulders after trying to engage in a conversation with the other cricket but failing miserably while Shang and Mulan hopped onto the former's horse, with Mulan and Cri-Kee in the saddled bag strapped to the horse. They soon set off down the path the messenger had gone down, all curious to find out what the emperor had to tell them and a certain slithery friend in particular trying to find a way to keep his status as a guardian secure.

* * *

After hearing Pete mention of the mysterious Keyblade, it was enough to divert Xanatos' focus from the capture of the Princess, Alice. While their ideas of what they should do were quite polar, there really was no argument to be had. Xanatos had been given control of the operation by Maleficent and that meant two things. First, it had clearly been established since they started out on their journey that this certainly was not a democracy, and while Xanatos would listen to Pete's output, taking them into consideration was another thing entirely, except when it involved the Keyblade it seemed. Secondly, Maleficent had put in place a rather determined intellectual who could easily persuade the witch to switch the focus from the Princesses to the Keyblade. Pete had lost what little trust he had had with Maleficent and would have to earn his way up the ranks. Unfortunately, that also meant sucking up to Xanatos' orders for the time being.

"So, lemme get this straight. What you're saying is that someone took the princess out of this world before us?" Pete asked for probably what had been the thousandth time by now.

"For the last time and for the dully inept, yes. You did check the mirror didn't you? That mirror serves as a gateway, a connection of sorts, from Alice's bedroom to Wonderland. From my analysis of this world, there are two possibly entrances. The first one is the rabbit hole near this room," Xanatos pointed towards the door leading down the long hallway to where they had entered from to get to the room they were currently in, the Bizarre Room, "The other is the mirror in the courtyard though I can't say I'm positive it works the way I think it does. It probably only does work for Alice. Speaking of that mirror, what about the King? Is the one he's trapped in similar to it?"

Pete nudged his head to the side, "I dunno, Maleficent asked me to recover that mirror from another of the Princesses' worlds. It seemed to have magical properties and this mirror just seems like a plain old mirror to me."

"They do seem to have different properties but I'm sure there's more to the mirror in this world than meets the eye. The question is where is Alice now? And here's my proposition. I would like to find out more about this Keyblade. From what you've told me, it seems that is our 'key' to finding the Princesses." From what Xanatos had said, it didn't seem more like a suggestion but rather an order.

Pete seemed bemused, "But we don't know where the pip squeak is. And it's not like he'll just help us or somethin'."

"But you've mentioned it yourself; we have other options apart from him. Look, it is beneficial to our interests to find out more about this Keyblade. You may find that all your problems wash away Pete, so let's leave this world and do some investigating." Xanatos' calm as usual but powerful at the same time voice rang out to Pete, who was sure that the man had used the cat's name for the first time since talking to him. Maybe he could learn to respect him after all. Pete opened up a corridor of darkness and stepped into it followed soon by Xanatos.

* * *

The journey to the imperial city had been plagued with frustration as the abrasive Heartless had made their annoying tendencies well known on the long journey. Many times had the four been stopped due to Assault Riders, Rapid Thrusters or Heartless which Sora and Luna had never seen before, the Sapphire Elegy which had the ridiculous habit of warping away whenever they were attacked either with physical or magical attacks. There had seemed to be no decisive way to take care of that type of Heartless in particular, at least until Sora had tried magnet on them.

The serpentine road stretched long into what seemed to be over a thousand miles, though surprisingly only took until lunch time for them to reach the emperor's palace. Grand in size and its brilliant red doors inviting, Luna found herself first to step in front of the guards patrolling its area.

"State your order of business." One of the guards said in a non-too interested tone.

"The girl is with me." Shang stepped past Mulan and Sora to confront the guard.

"General Shang! Of course, right this way." The two guards turned around and gave a push to open the heavy doors. The doors gave way in an almost dramatic light letting its inner majestic infrastructure captivate the minds of Mulan, Sora and for the first time, Luna.

Sora patted Luna's shoulder, "You know the first time we came here, Mulan, Donald, Goofy and I had to go up those since there was no one at the door." He pointed towards the red pillars supporting the palace just behind them.

"Lazy guards? Ooh, that's not very good now huh mister guard?" Luna confidently remarked as she walked past the guard. Fortunately, she had gotten the desired effect out of the guard with him giving a bewildered look.

Sora laughed and proceeded in with Luna followed by Mulan and Shang. The corridor which led to the emperor's throne room was filled with tapestry of different sizes containing detailed artwork of what they could only surmise to be China's history, and which Sora and Mulan had not seen on their previous visits. Apart from this, the antechamber split off leading to several doors on the sides, going to other parts of the palace.

Shang arrived at the next set of guards and with a brief talk, had them open the doors to the throne room. Immediately, Sora and Mulan were the first to pull out their weapons when they spotted a tall figure in a black coat slowly approaching the emperor.

"Isn't that the man in the black coat you were looking for when you last came here Sora?" Mulan asked as Luna and Shang also quickly pulled out their respective weapons.

"Nah, it's a different. Hey, who are you? Were you the one who took the King?" Sora asked in an impudent manner, "Hey are you even listening to me?"

The person did not respond. They only clicked their fingers to summon several Nightwalkers, ghosts who Sora recognised as doing serious damage. Even so, Sora leapt past the huge quantity of Heartless with alacrity and tried to attack the person, only for the attack to go right through them.

"What?" Luna asked astounded. Sora had hit them directly, she was sure of that, so why had the attack not connected, "Are you the guy I saw in Traverse Town?"

The person turned their head and stared at Luna directly for what seemed to be the longest time, they didn't even have to stare for long enough to make her feel agitated. Soon enough they shrugged and dematerialized into thin air. The group would have thought the man had never been here in the first place if not for the Heartless being there.

The group split up each taking care of the Heartless in their proximity. Soon enough, the last traces of Nightwalkers had been vanquished and all that was left was the group and the emperor.

"Your excellency, do you know them. Did they say anything to you?" Sora asked hastily.

"Calm down young one. I am intrigued myself as to the intentions of this person. It was a man however, and while he did not talk much, he did say one thing." The emperor told them.

Sora's eyes widened, "Which was?"

"'The shackles of fate that bind me are slowly fading, the seer can attest to that'." He repeated the man's exact words, the result of this being Sora and the others being left just as confused as they were before.

"Uh, that's it?" Sora asked.

"That's it." The emperor gave a candor smile, though Sora was clearly not convinced.

"Are you absolutely sure? Nothing else?"

"Yes, I think if he had told me something else I would have told you." The emperor said rather annoyed at the boy's lack of belief. Sora still wasn't satisfied, but that really came down to not getting the answers that he wanted, and that could only come from the man himself.

"So, what was it you wanted to see Shang for your Excellency?" Luna asked brusquely to avoid anything else stubborn coming out of Sora's mouth. She wasn't satisfied either but she knew that the emperor had nothing else to give them. She could understand why Sora didn't want to accept that outcome however.

"Ah yes, you see General, as you may know there has been a number of recent excursions made to the outside of this city by an enemy force of Mongols. We have done wonderfully so far to hold of these invaders, but recently we have been reduced in number and are falling ever by the day." Reported the emperor.

"Then let me lead my men in a pre-emptive attack, your Excellency. Each of my men will fight with the strength of ten Mongols if they have to." Shang answered incisively.

"Oh no General, I plan to do this without violence. By such, I mean we will form a union so powerful that the Mongol forces will have no other option but to retreat," The emperor stood up and walked down the steps leading from his throne to where a square table was positioned, and on it a map, "We will do this by marriage. You will escort my three daughters to the Kingdom of Qui Gong. There they will be married to the sons of Lord Chin and seal the pact."

Luna was the first to interrupt, disbelief on her face, "I'm sorry but what? Arranged marriage? I don't tend to know much about the topic your Excellency but are you sure about this?"

"Oh yeah, you can interrupt him when he's talking but no me. Totally fair." Sora murmured under his breath though Luna managed to catch hold of this.

"Sora, it's much more serious than that. Marrying just for the sake of peace is ridiculous, especially when it's by force." Luna chided.

"You claim not to know much about the topic, yet you've seemed to grasp the concept of the marriage pretty quickly miss-"

"Luna, and that's because- well, I don't know why but I- I know enough to know that it's wrong. Political reasons or not." Luna stammered roughly through her answer but was happy when Mulan came to her aid.

"I agree with Luna. I'm not so sure this is a good idea. In the end though, it is down to whether they do want to get married to these princes or not." She said seeming perplexed about the situation. It had seemed at this point that the whole meeting with the stranger in the black coat had appeared as if it really had not taken place and it was as if Sora felt he were the only one who was still thinking about it.

"Fa Mulan, Luna, I appreciate your concern however rest assured that my daughters know exactly what they are doing. They are committed to this marriage in order to preserve the peace." The emperor told them with a kind and gentle smile, kind of like the one when a father wants reassure their child that everything will be alright.

"Your majesty, I- I-"

However the emperor interjected, "Apology accepted. Now this wedding must take place in three days or the alliance will crumble and we may fall to the Mongols. Do you have everything you'll need on this journey General? I am sure that Sora, wasn't it? And Luna will also be travelling with you?"

"But of course, you can count on us, right Sora?" Luna asked, but Sora didn't respond. Something about the whole ordeal was making him hesitate though he could not decipher as to what it was. Something he needed to remember…

_Ah that's right, _Sora remembered, _I can't meddle in the affairs of other worlds. I have to tell Luna that rule at some point. _The problem was that this politics business counted as meddling and Sora wasn't sure if he should risk it when the world was in danger from these Mongols or whatever they were. Then there was Luna, who seemed rather adamant about helping Mulan out…

_Ah, I'm sure it will be fine as long as we're only there for the Heartless. _He finally had decided.

"I think that blank stare means yes," Shang joked, "But also, I would like to request three more men. The mission will require not force but finesse. These men are perfect for that."

"Okay then, I shall trust you as a General and give you my blessings as a father." The emperor said.

"Who exactly do you have in mind anyway?" Sora shook out of stupor to say.

"Oh I think you'll know them well." Mulan smiled.

* * *

"Oh you cannot be serious, _these_ three?" Sora had thought this to be some sort of joke when Mulan had mentioned it. Sure they had helped to protect the emperor while Sora, Mulan, Donald and Goofy had taken care of Shan Yu but at some point before but… "They cut in line!"

"Seriously Sora? Are you still holding a grudge about that? Along with us, they also became the heroes of China." Mulan said.

"Yeah, I guess I don't know them much personally, but they don't look particularly…" Sora trailed off. Of course they were talking about Yao, Ling and Chien-Po, who they could see up ahead sprawled across the ground. Sora, Luna and the others were currently walking through the village in search of the three and as Sora, Mulan and Shang informed her on who they were, Luna really did not understand Sora's reaction… until she had met them. The variety provided by the three was certainly something, though the most impressive thing was that they shared one similarity, they had all been rejected by girls.

As she and Sora neared closer they had overheard them discuss the topic while still lying on the floor at how their attempts had failed. It was quite hysterical, to say the least.

"Sorry soldiers but I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Shang walked up to them and giving them a knowing look.

"Oh, of course not we were just, uh-"

"Wrestling, yeah. That was it, you know manly stuff." Yao finished for Ling.

"You don't happen to have any food on you General, I have a ferocious appetite." Chien-Po added in rubbing his belly.

"I don't think he has ya big lummox." Yao said.

"You haven't forgotten me now have you?" Mulan stepped to the side from behind Shang's stature.

"Mulan!" The three all said in unison. They jumped up hurriedly to greet the two.

"You remember me right?" Sora asked.

"Who are you?" Ling asked as if he'd never seen the brunette before.

Sora's mouth dropped, "What? I was with Mulan the whole time and you don't remember me? I feel like I just got slugged… AGAIN!"

Ling bursted out laughing, "Oh I'm just kidding, you're Sora right. It's nice to see ya, and who's this beautiful young lady with you?"

"Oh, my name is Luna. Just your everyday average girl here." Luna greeted cheerily.

"Nice to meet you Luna, are you single?" Yao asked.

"Since you're already having troubles with other girls, what makes you think I'll be any different?" Luna shot back.

"Ooh, spunky. Just like the apple pie I had yesterday." Chien Po remarked though Luna was not particularly sure what to say to that, she had never been described as food by the people she had met so far on her journey. Also she could do was smile like an idiot.

"Anyway, I'm here to inform you guys of a proposal. Would you like to hear it?" Shang asked. When the trio said yes, he informed them of the task that they needed to accomplish, about the arranged marriage, the daughters being that of the emperor and the mission to defeat the impending threat of the Mongols. When he finished they seemed jubilant at the idea of saving China once again.

"Well of course we'll help you. So when do we leave?" Yao asked.

"Tonight."

* * *

**So there's mention of this no meddling in affairs of other worlds, you know, the thing that was never ever made mention of in KH2. But the question is, will Sora and Luna stick to that policy?**

**So next time Sora and the gang meet the Princesses and they start their journey. Until next time, please do review and favourite the story if you like it. See ya for the next chappie.**


	31. Whispers of the Heart

**Back for another chapter, and this world is getting pretty fun to write. I admit, it was pretty weird including this world in this story only because of the way the movie works. But I think I'll be able to do this and maintain both the feels of KH and the movie. **

* * *

Chapter 31

Whispers of the Heart

The culmination of the night's darkness and the illuminating torches of the tunnel walls outside the imperial palace made the approaching silhouette look as if it appeared to be a rabbit with long ears. However, this soon split off in to three separate shadows, revealing those of slender physique. Eventually, these three figures revealed themselves as they emerged out of the bright tunnel, the emperor following behind them. Three girls dressed in similar coloured garments, all a shade of violet, and the bottom half of their faces all covered by hand fans of similar hue, leaving only their eyes and hair to be seen.

Luna could only stare and look on in sympathy as they neared their carriage, the one she was standing right next to. Sora was none too happy about the matter either, having finally put the appearance of the mysterious figure in the back of his mind for the time being, but there was simply nothing he could do about it. Instead of watching the Emperor bid his farewells to his daughter, he looked over to Luna and Mulan who seemed to have contemplating looks on their faces.

Luna's solemn expression was further fuelled perhaps by the fact that the three girls in front of her seemed lifeless though not entirely, there was a hint of sadness behind their eyes and Luna had to wonder how in the world the Emperor had decided that this would be alright with them when they clearly weren't completely approving of the idea. She was right of course, as the three princesses left their father and walked towards them, there was a feeling of conflict etched in the old man's heart, just like the three girls, Luna had seen it in his eyes and the one sigh that escaped from his lips as they walked away, though she knew it was too late to change his opinions.

_It's like they're just political tools. How could he do this? _Luna's opinions were certainly more at the extremist side of the spectrum than Mulan. Mulan was willing to comply just as long as it was what the Princesses wanted, though even she had her doubts that they knew exactly what they wanted. Still, much like Luna she knew there was nothing much she could do about it, at least for now.

The princesses made it to the carriage and attempted to ascend its steps into the comfy seats of the carriage. As the last of the princesses, Mei, stepped into the carriage one of her slips came of a fell to the ground with a thud catching the attention of Yao. Yao looked up at Mei who seemed taken aback and made to grab for the slipper. Once in his hand, he held it up and bowed. Mei looked down at him cautiously for a second before taking the slipper from him in a graceful manner. She then stepped back into the carriage and took several sideway glances at the short man who had stepped back to re-join Ling and Chien-Po, a slight blush visible on his features.

"We will ensure you have a relatively safe journey your highnesses." Shang bowed before closing the carriage door.

"We have full confidence in your abilities General." The oldest, Ting-Ting, said in a low and composed voice.

"Allow me to introduce you to Fa Mulan." Shang said giving way for Mulan to meet them.

"It's is nice to meet the hero of china." Ting-Ting greeted none too enthusiastically.

"Uh, her-OES of China actually. There's more than one, better believe it." Sora popped in between Shang and Mulan and pulled off his usual grin. The response was a single snort heard from the girl on the left side of the carriage, Su. She almost instantaneously recovered, giving a cough and then going back to her implacable self. The other girl, Mei, also seemed quite uncomfortable having closed her eyes as soon as Sora had finished talking. Ting-Ting however remained passive.

Luna walked up to them energetically, "And of course, our friendly neighbourhood clown, Sora. And I'm Luna, nice to meet you."

"It's a pleasure." Ting-Ting responded rather grimly.

"I think it's time to depart. Everyone, take your stations." Shang said and walked to the front of the carriage where five horses were waiting not counting the two pulling the carriage, two of them being Shang and Mulan's and the other three horses belonged to the imperial palace. Yao and Ling opted as there were not enough horses to sit in front of the carriage while Chien Po rode the last horse. Sora mounted his own horse and looked to Luna who had also gotten on hers.

"I wouldn't mind one of these as a present." Luna chortled.

Sora leaned in and said quietly, "Well unless you steal it, I doubt the emperor will give it you."

"Even if I stole it, I wouldn't fit on the Gummi Ship." Luna replied.

Sora chuckled and pulled back before turning to Mulan and Shang who had checked to see if their horses' saddles were on correctly before jumping on their own.

"Well, we have no time to waste. Let's depart for Qui Gong."

The carriage and its companions took off, journeying long into the night. Shang had predicted that within three days they would arrive at the Kingdom of Qui Gong provided they take breaks at the specific times that had mentioned. As they left the city and entered the beautiful countryside filled with the glowing green lights which only the fireflies possessed, Mushu privately put into plan his devious and conniving scheme to break up Mulan and Shang.

"Okay, time to put operation star-exed lovers in to plan and stop Mulan from making the biggest mistake of my- I mean _her_ life." Mushu's mouth crawled into a smile grin. Cri-Kee, who was beside him in the bag, was disapproving and tried to scrutinize him by gesturing in anger.

Mushu however, seemed to interpret this in a slightly different manner, "Exactly right you are Cri-Kee, there's no way we can allow Mulan to ruin her life. We'll help her in any way we can."

The cricket's face dropped in fatigue with the ignorant Mushu's antics seeming to make the cricket want to find somewhere else, anywhere else, to stay for the night. If he could speak, he would be hopping straight to Mulan to inform her but alas, there was nothing he could do.

On the other horses, Sora and Luna were discussing the princesses' positions. Sora had already been aware of Luna's feelings on the topic but certainly didn't mind discussing it more. He was rather unsure of his feelings as well so he found it did help to discuss things with her.

"But arranged marriage Sora? I could understand if maybe they had met before and were inclined to marry," Luna whispered as their horses moved to the left to lend way for a peddler who was heading towards the village, "but this is for political reasons. Sure they might learn to love them, but that's if they don't turn out to be disgusting and gross."

"I'm sure they can't be that bad Luna. Even so, there's nothing we can do-"

"Why not?" Luna's voice rose as she demanded to know why. Her voice travelled to the front, where Mulan and Shang were currently riding and they turned their backs.

"Everything alright there?" Mulan asked. When they both nodded she smiled, "Don't be strangers you two."

Sora waited for the two lovers to turn around before looking back at Luna, "I should have told you this before, but as Keyblade wielders we have to preserve the world order or some stupid thing like that. That means no interfering in other worlds unless it has to do with protecting them in some way. Politics is definitely a no-no."

Luna seemed to consider this for a moment, "But, is it any worse than this?"

"I can't say for sure. Apparently according to Yen Sid, it gives off the impression that we have a lot of power to influence events. We really should just keep on a low profile for now so that no one else knows about us or the Keyblade." Sora finished recounting the thing Master Yen Sid had told him and Riku after they had become Keyblade Masters.

"Don't worry Sora. I won't interfere with what's happening in the world. I'm just concerned for them," Luna told him. She then suddenly lit up considerably, "So what does a Keyblade Master learn that's different from a Keyblade wielder."

"Ooh, I'm not really sure I can brief you with that kind of information Miss Luna. You'll have to try harder to get it out from me." Sora snickered.

"Oh dear, well maybe one day I'll tickle it out of you." Luna beamed.

"Tickle? What makes you think I'm ticklish? You on the other hand…"

Their silly antics continued on well into the night with both individuals seeming to sleep their troubles away soon after they disembarked from their saddles to retire to the few hours' rest they had.

* * *

No sooner had they woken up to the fresh spring breeze than they had taken off once again. Shang promised that princess that around noon, they would take a lunch break, something chiefly that Sora was looking forward too. His growling of his stomach fully supported his excitement for a long and good meal. This had led to Sora talking about meals that his mom and Kairi's mom cooked.

"Kairi's mom in particular cooks amazing steak. If you have not tried it, you have not lived." Sora remarked.

Luna giggled, "Yeah, my mouth's watering from your description. Thanks a lot Sora."

"No problem. I think Kairi also got her skills from her mother, even though she was taken in by them, her mom must have taught her how to do it. Her Sea Salt Ice Cream was perfect when I tried it." Sora remarked.

"How about we all make some when we head back to Radiant Garden then?" Luna suggested. Her first experience of the Ice Cream given to her by Scrooge had been none too short of perfect and she even had managed to remember that it had been her favourite flavour going by what Astra had called her in her dream.

Astra. She wondered what the other girl was doing now and if so, was she facing a dilemma similar to what Luna was facing. Her dream had been real; she had confirmed so when she had found either her or Astra's black coat in the alley in the downtown portion of Radiant Garden. When she finally met Astra, how would the latter feel when she had been told that her friend had lost her memory of her. Did she even have any right to call her a friend when she had forgotten something as important as her friend? She wasn't even sure who Astra was to her other than an apparent friend but she was certainly compelled to find out. She also had to wonder why she had been wearing a similar black cloak to the man she had seen before in the Emperor's throne room. Did she know him from somewhere?

"Luna? Luna?" Sora's voice soon snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Oh thank goodness, I thought you had left me for a second or so. I was ready to bury your remains." Sora wisecracked.

"Says the boy who was staring into space yesterday. Anyway, what were you saying?"

"Just that 'that's a great idea Luna, I can't wait!'" He repeated in the voice he had used before, that being a quite ecstatic voice.

"Awesome. Or- or we could even do a… competition for the person that makes the best Ice Cream in general!" Luna revealed after a moment's dramatic pause.

"Ice Cream that will make even the hardest tooth child chatter in fright," Sora's sadistic side had apparently come out as he pulled a Jack Skellington, "Say, why don't we get Palom to test it out?"

"Sora! Don't let him suffer your potentially poisonous Ice Cream," Luna expressed mockingly, "I say we give them to Cid instead."

Sora had no objections to this. How could he when it was a chance to test the older man's coolness factor out. The worst part was, he knew Merlin would take so much joy in seeing Cid humiliated that Sora wouldn't be surprised if he tried to sabotage some of the Ice Cream in some way.

The large party passed cotton fields and soon after the wheat fields where the laborers worked vigorously for their hard earned living. It had been the first time Luna had seen people working so diligently just to make a hard earned living. She was impressed and wondered what wonders her own world held.

Already she had been to four places which were possible environments similar to her own, excluding Wonderland, she wondered if her world was like the neon powered Traverse Town, or maybe even the re-emerging capital of light Radiant Garden? It could even resemble the urban backgrounds of the Dalmatians' world or the starkly beautiful scenery of Mulan and Shang's world. Either one, she honestly wouldn't mind, and the best part was there was a whole lot more to come for her.

As they continued on, the Heartless started appearing more frequently, also resulting in Sora and Luna having to frequently get off their horses to combat the threat. Between each fight however, Mulan had enough time to tell her story in more detail of how she joined the army disguised as man, her meeting with Sora and the defeat of the Hun army along with Shan Yu.

"You know, Goofy was the only one to realise that I was actually a girl?" She told Luna.

"Really? You didn't know Sora? How intelligent is Goofy? Or is that you're-"

"Yeah, sorry don't remember the details. It was a long time ago." Sora interjected pulling a quick cover up. Luna was able to see through this but did not question further as another group of Heartless appeared.

After taking care of them, Shang declared that they may as well take a break as it was noon anyway and the horses needed to drink their water. Shang went to the back to open the door and allow the Princesses out after explaining the situation in clearer detail to them. The first thing all of them noticed is that all three of them now seemed to be dressed in garments of different hue.

"Aaaahhhh! Finally! I was getting hungry." Sora said jumping of his horse.

"Agreed. This constant fighting is making me lose weight I think." Luna got off her horse rather timidly and then stretched.

Sora nodded, "Yeah, what are with these Heartless today? Well, more Heartless means more losses for them. I ain't complaining."

"I guess you're one of those 'give me all you got' types huh?" Mulan asked walking up next to them.

"Not really. Even I need a break sometimes. But I did take on about a thousand Heartless one time. Donald and Goofy were there but we separated and took different areas. Not to brag or anything but if they threw a couple hundred at me, I could probably handle them."

"That's bragging." Luna responded though inside she was highly impressed by this feat. She couldn't imagine taking on fifty Heartless at the same time, let alone a thousand.

_Now would be a better time than ever to find out about these Princesses. _Sora thought considering his options. The coldest and most serious one definitely seemed to be Ting-Ting, the one in indigo. Mei, the one in pink, was busy twiddling her thumbs and looking over anxiously at something, possibly Yao who was in that direction. Su who was wearing orange was currently trying to get some strange fruit from the tree. Sora had never seen it before but a quick talk with Mulan revealed it to be pomegranate. They had never grown on the islands so he didn't know much about them but he could recall seeing some in another world, though he couldn't remember which one.

"Something on your mind Sora?" Mulan inquired.

"Oh nothing much. I'm just going off to talk to Su, see how she's doing." Sora said finally deciding which one he wanted to talk to.

Luna seemed to catch on pretty quickly, "Good idea Sora. Mulan and I will talk to, uh, Ting-Ting?"

"Well good luck with that one. You'll probably have better luck talking to Mei." Sora said behind him as he walked off to the tree which Su, who was the shortest out of the girl of the three, was trying to pick the fruit from but was failing miserably due to her height.

"Hey there! You're Su right? I know I've already been introduced, in the goofiest way possible, but now you can hear it from me. Sora's the name and guardian protection's my game." Sora said extending him arm.

"Hehe, it's nice to meet you Sora," She took his hand and shook it, "Was there anything you needed?"

"Nope, but it seems like there's something you need. Can't reach that fruit?" Sora pointed to the red-skinned fruit above them.

"Yes, it's pomegranate. I quite like to collect fruits. It's a hobby of mine you could say." Su said.

"Interesting hobby. These things don't really grow where I come from so I've never seen them before." Sora remarked.

"Where did you come from?"

"Um, somewhere very far away. You probably wouldn't know it."

"Yeah, you don't look like you're around from here. Luna as well," Su said not bothering to question Sora's vague answer, "Do you think you could help me out with these."

"I wish I could, but they're too far up for me to reach." Sora replied knowing that even if he did try to lift her up, they still wouldn't be able to reach. Additionally, Sora had also forgotten how to work the Gravity spell and so his Keyblade would be useless unless he wanted to risk burning the fruit.

"I can help." A deep voice said coming nearer. They turned their heads to see Chien-Po walking up to them.  
"Whoa!" Sora said quickly astounded as the bigger guard lifted Su up with one arm and placed her on his shoulder. His added height was enough that Su could easily pick a few of the pomegranate from the tree.

"Thank you so much. You're so kind." Su giggled as Chien-Po lifted her back down to the ground.

"Oh, no problem." He blushed and returned the huge smile that Su was giving him.

Sora had to cough to remind the two that he was still there, "Do you do that all the time? That was amazing!"

"Thanks Sora. Food makes you big and strong." Chien-Po said putting his hand on the boy's shoulders.

"Hey, are you insinuating something? Come on, give me a break. I eat my fair share… and a little extra." Sora sighed causing Su and Chien-Po to laugh.

After Mei had mustered up the courage to talk to Yao, the two had spent some time together, Mei having commented on him resembling a fuzzy bear causing the usually tough man to blush. After a while, Yao left to talk to Captain Shang and Mulan and Luna took this as the perfect opportunity to talk to her.

"Fa Mulan, Luna. It's wonderful to see you again." Mei said softly.

"It's great to see you too. So, how's the journey faring so far?" Asked Mulan while leaning against the tree next to Mei and folding her arms.

Mei looked down, "It is going well. Well… maybe not entirely. No, I shouldn't bother you with my troubles."

"It's okay. We'll listen to whatever you have to say, really!" Luna said giving her a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder.

Mei smiled and turned to Mulan, "Well it was just that I was deeply enthralled by your tale Fa Mulan. You're so brave for taking your father's place and joining the army. Your duty was to stay at home yet you listened to your heart. How did you decide?"

"Well, I guess by following my feelings I ended up doing the right thing. I guess my duty is to my heart." Mulan said.

"Your duty is too your heart." Luna and Mei said at the same time before turning to each other before a smile crawled on both their lips.

"That… makes sense! It's marvellous, thank you Fa Mulan! See ya Luna!" Shrieked Mei before running off, or maybe it was more like dancing off.

"What… just happened?" Mulan looked at Luna quizzically.

"I think you just gave her the answer. And me too!" Luna added in shortly after. From their brief encounter, Luna could guess that the Princesses certainly weren't happy with their arranged marriages, and in actuality it was more like a forced marriage. What's more was that at least Mei and Su seemed interested in Yao and Chien-Po from their interactions. Looking over to where Sora, Chien-Po and Yao were, she could easily the possibility of romance blooming between the latter two.

_That leaves Ling and Ting-Ting._ _He may as well be talking to a brick wall, poor guy. _Luna thought as she watched Ting-Ting resist Ling's set constant barrage of jokes and puns. She seemed to be struggling to hold in the laughter and was possibly at the verge of running back to the carriage.

_Well that can be remedied._ Luna had a plan, and while she wasn't exactly sure it was the right thing for the safety of the world, she knew it was the right thing to do in her heart. If she had to play matchmaker, then so be it, even if she had absolutely no clue on how to give advice on love.

* * *

"Okay now, operation star-exed lovers is a go go. Let me see some results." Mushu pounded his fist in his palm before slithering off through the bushes to where Mulan had gone after talking with Luna to catch some fish with Shang. Arriving by the lake, Mushu swept up behind Shang.

Shang watched and admired as Mulan reeled her fishing hook in, dragging a medium sized trout out of the water along with it.

"Impressive Fa Mulan, but it only pales in comparison to my fishing skills." Shang said playfully as he prepared to cast his fishing rod.

Mushu snickered and tucked the fish hook covertly under his shirt before slipping away and peering through the bushes.

"Here I gw-AH!" The hook pulled on his shirt as he tried to propel the rod forward causing him to flip a full 360 degrees and fall straight into the water.

"Shang!" Mulan opened her mouth in shock before standing over the edge of the water and pulling the fish currently waggling about in Shang's mouth, "Well, looks you sure showed me. I give it 10 out of 10 for style."

Shang looked at her for a second before throwing water at her. Mulan attempted to block with her arm but she may as well have not done anything at all. Water trickled down her face as both of them laughed and started drenching each other with water.

"You can't be…grr." Mushu growled and punched a piece of tall grass in front of him. Unfortunately, the strong plant sprang back and hit him full force knocking him out of the grass field and hitting Mulan's horse. Khan stared straight at the dragon with its breath coming out of its nostrils like steam engines.

"Is it getting hot out here, or is it just me, hah hah." Mushu said nervously as the horse continued to stare at him.

Mushu attempts continued several times into the day where Mulan and Shang were alone but always seemed to end in failure. Whether it was by knocking a beehive on to Shang's head or having angry squirrels chase after him or even burning the chicken they had brought with them, the end result always seemed to have the adverse effect than intended. Instead, Mushu was subjected to several poundings by Khan for his efforts.

"I've had enough. I try to do to something nice for the girl and I get stamped on instead," He complained as he limped back to the carriage covered in bandages and a cane in hand. He went under the passenger car and glimpsed at Cri-Kee who was enjoying the moment and laughing at him, "And a cricket who laughs at me. Might as well make that two. Where's Jiminy when ya need him. I've had it." Mushu said throwing his cane in a random direction. Cri-Kee ducked, the cane missed his head by several inches and then rebounded off the bottom of the carriage and zoomed past Mushu and knocked the rock away which had held the carriage in place.

Little did Mushu know that some of his bandages were wrapped around one of the wheels so when he bellowed for the "Ancients to take me now!" he and Cri-Kee were literally taken away, that is, along with the rest of the carriage that contained the princesses inside.

"The Princesses!" Sora yelled, alerting everyone else's attention to the carriage that was fast departing for the cliff ahead.

Sora and Luna jumped onto their horses and joined up quickly with Mulan and Shang who were already on theirs. Yao, Ling and Chien-Po who had been in the front before the carriage had started to move, were now clinging desperately to it in an attempt to rescue the Princesses from the carriage.

Shang soon caught up with them, "Time to go ladies." Mulan moved to the side of the carriage and Sora and Luna followed suit filing behind Mulan and Shang respectively.

"You go first Mei," Ting-Ting said shoving the girl out of the window first so that Ling could help her get onto Mulan's horse. Ting-Ting did the same with Su allowing her to get to Shang. Ting-Ting was about to jump onto Sora's house when the floor of the carriage gave way, her foot getting stuck in the process.

"Ting-Ting!" Ling yelled in worry.

"I got it." Sora said moving in closer to the window. He summoned his Keyblade and pointed it at the floor. He aimed carefully before shooting a tiny bolt of thunder magic to create a hole big enough so Ting-Ting could free her foot. Ling helped her out but before she could swing onto Sora's horse, the rest of the ground was left behind them and they were only falling to the blue depths below.

* * *

**Thankfully I resisted the attempt to include a Star Trek reference somewhere in this chapter because of the horse's name. And on another note, it looks like Mulan and Luna both have little plans going on and we're going to be seeing more of that in the next chapter. So until then, have fun reading the chapter.**


	32. Divide and Conquer

**Hey guys, more Land of Dragons antics coming right up. This chapter in all honesty may have been called the Sora Abuse Show and you'll see why pretty soon. I feel kinda sorry for the guy. Anyway, on with the show.**

* * *

Chapter 32

Divide and Conquer

Sora had been having weird dreams at one point before having received his Keyblade. In one of them, he had been talking to Kairi when she had looked up past him. Sora had turned around to look up at the beautiful meteor shower which seemed to be racing towards them. One part in particular had caught his eye. Among the pieces of rock was Sora and suddenly the world had begun to topple over and he had begun to fall. Except it had been just him that had fallen. Kairi remained in place, the world at that point in time seemed to have been split into two symmetrical planes and he could only briefly see Kairi and himself looking up before the Sun had blinded his vision and he had plunged into the water's welcoming embrace below.

The message of the story was inconsequential, in fact he still had no idea what the dream had even meant but what was important was that it fit his currently situation. So when Sora plunged into the water's depths below he was quickly reminded of the particular dream before swimming up to the surface and emerging out of this water's rather cold embrace.

"Is everyone okay?" Shang yelled some few inches away from him.

Sora registered the different voices calling out around him before piping in glad to know that everyone was safe.

"Dial the ambulance. Inflated cricket here!" Jiminy's fluctuating voice could be heard from somewhere close to Sora. Searching the water around him, it did not take long to find Jiminy's body floating next to where his hair had once been. Sora picked the cricket up and squeezed his exposed midriff of the water dry until Jiminy had gushed out an excess amount of water out of his mouth allowing Jiminy to return to his normal size.

"Why thank you there Sora." Jiminy complimented.

"No problem. So who wants to do that again?"

"NO!" They all yelled at the spiky haired brunette who suddenly felt as if his morale had dropped.

"I was… only trying to lighten the mood but hey, at least you're passionate about it…" Sora trailed off from a quiet tone to silence.

"Anyway, let's get to land quickly. Over there!" Luna pointed to the piece of green land sticking out behind the corner of the mountain. Sora looked over to what were the remains of the broken carriage and the various pieces of cargo scattered around the water. While Sora and Mulan aided Shang in picking up the cargo and supplies, Luna and Yao, Ling and Chien-Po made it their mission to get the princesses and the horses safely across the water, or in the case of Yao, who couldn't swim; it was more like Mei had made it her mission to get him across.

"Okay, I think that's the last of the cargo." Sora told Shang and Mulan as he lifted up the last of the cargo from Mulan's hands and placed it on top of the rest of the pile.

"Thank goodness it wasn't much. It's still going to be annoying to carry though." Mulan said getting onto the mainland and helping Shang up as well.

"Come on now, is that what Ping would say?" Sora quipped.

"Forget Ping, at this point I'm much more concerned with what I'd say." Replied a chattering Mulan who was placing her arms onto her chest to keep warm.

"What even happened?" Shang asked in disbelief. When neither of the two answered him he sighed, "Look, we just need to find camp for the night. Let's catch up with the others."

It wasn't too long before the three had met up with the rest of the group, who Shang had ordered to search for a good place to set up camp. The place they had chosen was pretty good too, a large surrounding area near them right by the river.

"Was everything alright on the way here?" Shang asked as they met up with them.

"Apart from the slight Heartless or two, it was safe." Luna reported.

"We didn't even encounter any Heartless. Good job taking care of them." Mulan told them.

"Meh, we would've have been screwed without Luna's help. Right Yao?" Chien-Po said.

"Well- I- Yeah." Yao finally admitted. Sora gave a quick thumbs up to Luna who smiled back.

"So does anyone know what exactly caused the carriage to move?" Shang asked. They all shook their heads.

"What about you Mushu? Did you see anyone?" Sora asked looking to the dragon next to Mulan's feet.

"Me? Ha-ha? Nope didn't see nothing, what made you get that idea? Man, you crazy Sora." Mushu fidgeted about with his tail. Cri-Kee, who was jumping about next to Mushu and pointing to the dragon, was soon whacked away by him and out of sight.

"I was just asking. But… okay then?" Sora asked suspicious of the sudden erratic and defensive nature displayed by Mushu but soon looked back up when Mulan started to talk.

"Sora and Luna, why don't you two set up the tents." She advised reaching into the green bag and pulling out a large piece of fabric.

"Good plan Mulan. Lao, you can go and scout ahead for any towns or roads. Be careful of Heartless. Ling and Chien-Po will stay with the Princesses and me and Mulan will sort our way through this luggage." Shang said, almost as if trying to be calm though it was clear from his expression he was rather aggravated at the moment.

"Sounds like a great idea. Let's go Sora." Luna said taking the fabric and the bag containing the tools and dragged Sora away quickly before he could say anything.

* * *

Setting up the tents took longer than expected mainly because Sora and Luna simply were not experts in setting up things like this. Back on the islands, Sora had mainly let Riku do most of the work while making the raft while he had slacked off. The tree house that had been on the island had been built by Sora's father, and while Sora could have helped anytime he wanted, he had been rather lazy to do so. And to say the least, Sora had never really been the tech savvy type although this had little to do with technology. Even so, making a tent was almost alien to Sora other than when he had once seen Riku do it, which had been quite some time ago, probably when he had been five or so. Luna was just out right clumsy when it came to handling the poles and putting them in the wrong places so when one of the tents had been erected, it had managed to end up looking like a deformed pyramid.

After a few more tries, all of the now perfectly set up tents seemed like a beautiful new born in the eyes of Sora and Luna, and rightly so after all of their frustration in trying to build the main tent structure correctly that it should have looked like that to them.

"Making a tent without instructions should be illegal." Luna moaned stamping her feet on the ground.

"Well, at least we had a fun time doing it. Right? We'll be looking back on this a week from now and saying 'Remember all those times that we-"

"Shut up Sora."

"Yes ma'am."

Afternoon soon became evening and Yao still had not come back from his scouting, causing Sora to feel quite worried. Right now, he was certainly considering whether to go out and search for him or not. As he made his way from the river as he was patrolling the camp's surrounding for the night, he spotted Mulan and Shang talking to each other.

Shang held up the soggy map and laid it out on the ground, giving a grunt of frustration in the process.

"Those Princesses could certainly be happier don't you think?" Mulan asked.

"That's the least of our worries. We're too far off track." Shang answered.

"Why don't we follow the river? I'm sure it'll lead us to a road or town then." Mulan gave a smile hoping to spread her positivity in the process though it only came of as naiveté to Shang.

"This map doesn't have rivers." Shang grimaced.

"Then why don't we wing it." Mulan suggested.

"We can't wing it. The map has no towns either. We have no idea where we'll end up. We have three days, we need a new plan." Shang said.

_A map which doesn't show rivers and towns? Where can I get one of those? _Sora chuckled at the thought while he continued to watch the two.

"Well, I sure we can ask for directions. Maybe they'll know where Qui-Gong is and then we'll be set." Mulan uttered slowly as if it was the most obvious thing to do.

"You can't be serious. We have a map. We don't need to ask for directions." The annoyed look on Shang's face gave little to the imagination.

"Wow, what is it with men and asking for directions?" Mulan snickered.

"Yeah? Well what is it with women and maps." Shang yelled.

"Are you saying that women can't read maps?" Mulan asked back in the same raised tone.

"I think we oughtta do something about this Sora, and quick!" Jiminy proclaimed wildly.

"Aw, it was starting to get to the good part as well. Just a tiny teeny bit more Jiminy?"

"NO!" Jiminy yelled cutting him off.

"What's with all the no's today?" Sora asked shaking his head.

"Because the no's know Sora. Now get in there!" Jiminy pushed against Sora's neck.

"Okay, I was just kidding anyway. I was gonna help them out anyway," Sora started walking towards the two who were currently bickering at each other, "Hey, cut it out guys. Arguing won't solve anything. General, you didn't even try to listen to Mulan's plan did you? So why don't you hear her out and then tell her why it wouldn't be a good idea?"

"But I did." Shang told him.

"Actually to me it sounded like you were trying to convince her to follow a map which doesn't have any rivers or towns. I don't know about you Mulan but that sure convinced me." Sora said sarcastically earning giggles from Mulan and a chuckle out of Shang.

"See? Now apologise and make up." Sora was enjoying his role of councillor, even if it was only temporarily.

Mulan looked at Shang solemnly, "Sora, it was my fault too. Listen Shang, I'm sorry, you're in charge of the mission."

"No you're right Mulan. A good leader should be willing to listen to other's ideas rather than not giving them a second thought. Will you forgive me?" Shang apologised.

"There's nothing to forgive." Mulan said and two hugged each other while Sora put his hands around his head and smiled on.

"Uh, sorry, did I interrupt something?" Yao said as he walked towards them and spotted the two looking at each other with gloomy expressions.

"Yao, you're back. I thought you were in trouble." Sora said.

"Me, in trouble, hah. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I've spotted a town and a road over by the forest path." Yao informed them.

"The forest path?" Shang looked down at Mulan and smiled nervously, their argument now seeming like a silly spat, "Well, that's good news. Can you show us? Sora, keep on the lookout."

"As you wish General." Sora bowed playfully before returning to his post.

Shang turned back to Mulan, "Is he always like this?"

Mulan nodded, "He's a follower of his heart. Kind and brave. He's what inspired me to continue instead of going home even though I was doing badly at your missions, remember?"

"Of course, how could I forget? It's how I met you after all." Shang said before leaving with Mulan and Yao.

Mushu who had been in the tree above them watching the even unfold smiled with satisfaction.

"Oh yes. It's all going according to plan," Cri-Kee jumped at him angrily, "What do you mean my plan is failing? This is just part one of my new plan. Forget star-exed lovers, it's about divide and conquer now baby. Soon, Mulan will wish she'd have never gone out with him. It's time to get…" Mushu exhaled a ball of fire, Cri-Kee having to duck to avoid being burnt, "Up close and personal."

* * *

Luna watched quietly as the embers emitted from the flame flew into the sky until they disappeared all too quickly. The fire itself was quite attractive in appearance, well, enough for her to formulate her plan. She had been sitting with the princesses for only a while around the campfire and already she wasn't sure what to say, but she had to say something. They had already engaged in small talk but she knew that wasn't enough. She soon received her chance when Ling came up to Ting-Ting who was giving quick looks every now and then to Luna.

"Princess Ting-Ting, here's your fan. I found it by the river when I was looking over there." Ling said holding out her violet fan.

"Oh my, I thought I'd lost it. Thank you Ling." Ting-Ting smiled at him. Luna was pretty sure that was a first for the girl.

"You know, I would usually say that I'm your biggest fan and all but… ah, forget it!" Ling gave up and walked despairingly out of view, accidently tripping over the water bucket in the process. The group of girls giggled, Luna once again surprised that Ting-Ting was finally loosening up. This seemed to be the perfect chance.

"Something makes me think that he likes you." Luna said in a sing-song voice to the eldest princess.

"Maybe," Ting-Ting said sweetly. Then all of a sudden as if realising that she had just conveyed emotion, she straightened herself up quickly and adopted the pokerfaced character that she just seemed to play so well, "Even so, he'll have to get over it. I have a mission to complete and so do you two."

"Look, there's so much to be found in love, like happiness for example. Don't throw it away for things which you shouldn't concern yourself with." Luna tried to reason.

"Do you know your place Luna? I certainly know mine and that is my duty to my people. I will sacrifice my dreams if necessary to save them." Ting-Ting said.

"You can't believe that? Dreams are some of the most important things you can have and when you finally reach it, you grasp it and hold on to it. Don't squander that chance, or you may never see it again." Luna said passionately.

Mei nodded in Luna's direction, "Yeah, Luna's right. My duty is to my heart and it should be the same for you too. We may never have this chance again so let's take it while we can."

"Urgh, not you Mei. Luna, I asked you if you knew your place. May I ask what exactly your dream is?" Ting-Ting asked.

Luna looked back at the flames for a few seconds before looking up at the three, "I just want to get back home. But it's more than that. I've only been doing this for a month, not even that, but the places I've been and the people I've met, I feel like I want to help them before I even start to help myself. I guess you could say Sora rubbed off on me pretty quickly," Luna chuckled, it was like she was talking more to herself than anyone else, "The same can be said for you. I don't believe what you're doing is the right thing and I certainly don't believe that you think it is either. So when you ask me what my place is, I can only say that it's where my heart and my dreams are and I'll gladly follow them." She finished. It had sounded cheesy but it had a lot of meaning for her and she knew she would be lost without them by now.

"That was beautiful Luna." Su said in a teary-eyed manner.

"Oh it was nothing; I was just speaking from the heart. You might want to try it sometime Ting-Ting." Luna told her. She seemed to be getting through to Ting-Ting slowly but surely. Her plan was going quite well, now she just had to go for the kill.

"But what about the mission? Can I be assured that my people will be safe?" Ting-Ting placed her fan to her lips.

"What about the mission? We'll simply find another way to secure peace in this world. Where there's a will, there's a way." Luna gave a reassuring smile.

"World? What do you mean 'this world'?" Mei asked.

"Oh, don't worry about that. All you need to know is that I will help you in any way I can. Speaking of, how about a date between the three of you and Yao, Ling and Chien-Po? That should help decide your mind if it hasn't been yet." Luna winked.

"A d-date? I don't know…" Ting-Ting pondered unsure if it was a good idea.

"Oh come on, Ting-Ting, please." The other two begged their sister.

"Think of it as guard duty then if you don't want to think of it as a date." Luna said.

Ting-Ting eventually sighed, "Alright. And you can arrange this right?" The two girls jumped forward and gave their sister the most bone-crushing hug they had ever done in their life.

"Just leave everything to me." Luna grinned. Who knew it would be this easy?

* * *

"I think it's beautiful, don't you Cri-Kee?"

The cricket, if it had a voice, would have refused to say anything. He was simply astounded at the lengths Mushu would go to get what he wanted, and it was tiring. It was best it did not bother and yet out of loyalty to Mulan, he need to find a way to stop Mushu, but it seemed to be too late even for that.

"Now, let's start this in earnest. Just need to pull a- Shang? No, that won't do. Shang? Nope, not that either," Mushu said trying reach Mulan's pitch, "Shang? Shang? Shang? Ooh, I like that one. I'm going for it."

What Mushu had thought out was actually quite ingenious. He had made four mannequins, designed from material he had found in luggage as well as wood and had made it so that they looked like the outlines of Mulan and the three princesses. He had also gotten a lantern, so that their shadows could be seen through the tent Shang was sleeping in, or at least had been, if Mushu had not woken him up just a few seconds ago. While the man had returned to sleep, he couldn't fall asleep completely in an instant and so he would still here what was being said, and this is where the mannequins came in to play.

"That Shang. Please, you've got to be kidding me, more like General Hardhead. The man snores like a pig and is in some serious need of some mouthwash." Mushu spoke imitating Mulan's voice.

"Mulan?" Shang whispered and bolted upright staring at the shadows of the three princesses and Mulan.

"I mean, have you smelt it? His breath smells like stinky garlic. Woo-wee that boy can peel paint. Oops." Mushu accidently went back to his original voice but it was fine. The damage was already done. Mushu dragged the mannequins away quickly just as Shang stormed out of the tent.

"Where is she?" He growled and marched off around the camp looking for her. He eventually found her sitting on top of a rock and cleaning her sword, "MULAN!"

"Oh, hello Shang. What brings you out of bed?"

"You know perfectly well. General Hardhead? Needs Mouthwash?" Shang gasped and covered his mouth.

"What are you talking about? And why are you covering your mouth?" Mulan questioned.

Shang ignored her, "Wanna tell someone else I snore like a pig? Well if you're willing to tell the Princesses, why don't you just tell me right here right now?"

"Okay, you snore like a pig."

The simplicity in her tone as she stated this made him drop his mouth and his hands. He then quickly covered them up again.

"How could you talk about me behind my back like that?" Shang asked.

"What? With Sora and Luna? That was a day ago, why are you getting so hot and bothered about it now?" Mulan asked.

"Don't play coy with me; I'm talking about the princesses. I saw you four outside the tent whispering about me. I need mouthwash?" Shang bellowed. Sora, who had heard all the commotion and was still keeping watch, came over to check if everything was alright.

"I've been here at my post this whole time." Mulan challenged staring back at him as intensely as he was at her.

"Right and I'm sure you also weren't gossiping with the princesses." Shang retorted.

"You still have answered my question. Why are you covering your mouth?"

"Because I wouldn't want to peel your paint!" Shang said.

"Hey guys, didn't I tell you that arguing wouldn't solve anyth-"

"SHUT UP SORA!" The two yelled cutting Sora off before each storming off in opposite directions.

"And suddenly I feel so lonely in the world. Thanks a lot Jiminy." Sora dropped his head to the ground.

"What are ya blaming me for?" The cricket asked.

"You told me to stick my head in their business." Sora told him.

"I though you said you were gonna help them out anyway?" Jiminy repeated Sora's earlier words with a smug smile.

"Today is just not my day." The rest of Sora's body dropped to the ground along with his head in defeat.

Mushu however was on the role to success and pumping his fist into the air. What he needed to do now was solidify Mulan's mind on the matter and then that would be that and his status as her guardian would be preserved.

On the other side of the camp, Luna had successfully managed to convince Yao, Ling and Chien-Po to go out on a date with the Princesses, not that it had taken much convincing really.

"I think they're really open to anything now guys. If you want to make an impression on them, now's your chance. Now are you men or are you men? Go to them and show them who the boss is." Luna pumped her fist into the air.

"You know what? Yeah, we are men. Let's do this… who asks first?" Yao asked.

"Not me, how 'bout you?" Ling asked Chien-Po.

"If you're looking for first impressions, I'm afraid I'd be the wrong type for that."

Luna sighed, "Are you serious? I already told you they don't mind going out with you. Why are you wasting your time on such trivial things?"

"But you know, what if they don't like us? We only have your word for it, not theirs so…" Yao trailed off while inspecting his finger nails.

"That's no excuse. Well, I guess I was wrong. Maybe, you don't love them as much as I thought you did. Have fun seeing them in the hands of those brave strong princes they're about to marry. Yup, it's such a shame though. Truly is." Luna quietened looking at her own two feet for a second.

"She's right; we have to at least try. And we can say it's just guard duty anyway." Ling said. Luna mentally hit herself, it was the first thing she had told them and they had already made it seem as if she had never said it.

"Yeah, let's do this, there's a village nearby that we can take them to." Yao said taking the front lead and marching out towards the girls followed by Ling and Chien-Po.

"You go get 'em." Luna said before hiding behind a bush and looking out. This certainly had been a wonderful idea and now it was up to the boys to finish the job off.

She heard them exchange words and then finally, squealing coming from Mei and Su and a smiling Ting-Ting. Exactly what Luna wanted to see. The next part would be tricky; she had to figure out how to get them out of this marriage arrangement, something she had not thought of until when Ting-Ting had mentioned it.

The princesses and Yao, Ling and Chien-Po soon disappeared and later reappeared among horses, going to where Luna presumed was the village that Yao had talked about. Unfortunately, this was something Mushu also saw, who felt that luck was on his side way too much today.

"But you can never have enough luck." Mushu said before slithering over to Mulan's tent. If there was any way to break off Mulan's rocky relationship with Shang, this was going to be it.

"Mushu, I've thought about what you've said and you might be right. What's the point of staying with Shang especially when he's like this? If this is the real Li Shang I don't want to get to know him." Mulan said as he entered the tent. He had already planted the seeds of doubt in Mulan's mind before he had emerged out of the tent to see the princesses riding away.

"Yeah yeah, but uh- Mulan? You might not believe me when I say this but the Princesses have gone off with those three soldier guys to some village." Mushu said.

"What?! Where's Sora and Luna?" Mulan asked him quickly grabbing her sword.

"Not exactly sure on that one. Hey, you gonna call Shang?" Mushu waited for the words.

"With that attitude? Forget it. Let him brood all he likes, maybe that'll give him time to cool his head down," Mulan said racing out of the tent. Mushu was about to proclaim victory when she popped her head back in making him shut his mouth, "And even then I may not accept his apology." She then left.

"Victo- Wait. One more thing," Mushu smiled slyly heading out of the tent and watching Mulan riding away on Khan before running all the way to Shang's tent. He inhaled deeply, "WAKE UP!"

"W-w-what. Who was that?" Shang woke up suddenly and blinked a couple of times. Mushu had already left and Shang had wondered if it was just his imagination. It wouldn't have hurt to find out if anyone had called him however. He peered out of the tent to find no one there, "Where are the guards? The Princesses?" His eyes widened and he began his search of the area frantically.

"Sora! Why aren't you at your post? Where are the Princesses and the other three?" Shang growled.

"Huh? Aren't they by the fire?" Sora asked who had taken to exploring the back of the camp due to his depressed state. He walked around to the middle of the camp to find nothing just like Shang, "Oh no, the princesses are gone!"

"Oh really? Well maybe it wouldn't have happened if you had been watching them." Shang yelled. It was loud enough to attract the attention of Luna.

"What's going on?" She asked not having heard Shang's rant.

"The princesses and the guards are gone, you didn't see them did you Luna?" Sora asked her.

_Oh crap, who woke him up? _Luna thought.

"They're not the only ones. Mulan's gone as well. She must be up to this. Duty of the heart?" Shang spat and looked on the ground. Horse footprints covered the ground leading out of the camp.

"Mulan, what? No she isn't. I-"

But Luna was quickly interrupted by Shang, "Forget that right now, we need to go after them quickly before any harm comes to them. I can't believe that she would let them go when the Heartless could possibly be roaming about."

And then it hit Luna, several times. She felt her stomach drop now realising what she had done. She had wanted to do the right thing but she had possibly doomed the Princesses to a fate worse than forced marriage, and not just them but Yao, Ling, Chien-Po and Mulan too were possibly under danger from if not Heartless, then these Mongols. And it would have been all her fault. She turned around quickly and ran towards one of the horses and jumped onto them before galloping down the path of hoof prints quickly.

"Luna, wait!" Sora yelled. He and Shang jumped onto their own horses and quickly caught up to her.

Mushu who was riding with Shang and was inside the saddlebag popped out and held Cri-Kee out in front of him.

"The show is about to begin Cri-Kee, grab your front seats and your popcorn." Mushu said only for the cricket to pull on his whiskers and letting them go, snapping them back into place and causing pain to the dragon.

"I'm sorry guys, please be safe. Please be safe, I won't forgive myself if you're not safe. I'm on my way. You can do this Luna, you can do this." Luna whispered to herself. For all she knew, she needed the encouragement.

* * *

**So Mushu being an utter douche in this chapter. And as I said, Sora abuse all around. I also felt pretty sorry for Luna when I wrote this and it's going to be just as sad when she ends up telling the truth. So until next chapter, have fun reading. **


	33. Yin and Yang Pt 1

**So while this chapter mainly focuses on what happens in the movie, it does set up for what's to come in the next chapter which actually does not happen. Even so, there are some interesting things that happen on in this chapter particularly in the interaction between Sora, Luna and Mulan. Anyway, I don't want to spoil it so have fun with the chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 33

Yin and Yang Pt 1

The princesses' eyes sparkled beautifully as they set their eyes on the wonderful festival that was being held in the village. The stalls were packed with food much to Chien-Po and Su's delight as well as there being quite a lot of contests and games to play, things that Ting-Ting, Ling, Yao and Mei could not wait to try out. The princesses recounted their previous experiences of being to a festival, that being when they were young girls with their mother. After so long of watching others enjoy the festivities of the fair in their own town, they could now finally once again participate in on themselves.

The three pairs of lovers each decided to split up and head for different portions of the village. Around them were all the favourite things that they had missed, the dancing, the music and the sheer fun of it all. Chien-Po watched in wonder as a band of performers danced across the street with two girls whose faces were covered in white makeup were in the front doing handstands and taking the lead. Red long streams of ribbons flew across the streets and several men danced along with bamboo sticks in their hand holding two Chinese lanterns on either side.

"This is beautiful." Su remarked. Chien-Po walked over to the stalls where food was being held and peered at the variety of choices, his mouth watering. A girl soon danced in from behind the curtains of the stall and held out something to him.

"Would you care for ginger sir? We just got these fresh in and they're pretty popular already." The girl said with a great big smile on her face.

"Mmm, ginger. That goes well with dumplings." He said soothingly.

"Did someone say dumplings?"

Chien-Po turned around to see Su holding up a box filled with recently freshly cooked dumplings. The smell did no better to prevent his already acquired saliva from running, let alone the look. He placed his hands on Su's and thought over on how he had gotten such a beautiful young lady who shared the same interests as him.

Behind that stall, Yao and Mei watched as a bodybuilder the size of a truck slammed down his opponent, who was rather scrawny and small in comparison.

"Anyone else think they have a chance of defeating this mighty hulk?" The announcer boomed into his microphone. Yao looked up to Mei and then back again at the massive wrestler in front of him. It was certainly a challenge and if there was anything to impressive Mei, he'd take it.

"Sure, I'll have a go!" Yao announced rolling up his sleeves and walking through the thick crowd until he reached the ring.

"Yao! Don't get hurt, please." Mei shouted through the crowd. She quickly looked for a better spot to view from, having to push past several people until she had found a good angle.

"Watch this." Yao said wasting no time in diving for the bodybuilder and lifting him up. The crowd cheered and the announcer's face seemed a ghost of its former self as Yao easily tossed the giant man aside and out of the ring.

"Yao, you're amazing!" Mei yelled running through the crowd and up on the ring. She gave Yao a long hug, who hesitated before returning it.

Mei soon let go, "Hey Yao, Luna put you guys up to this right?"

Yao's eyes widened, "How did you know?"

"She said that she would try and convince you guys to ask us. When you think about it, it's kind of funny. She skilfully manipulated all of us, but you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way." Mei finished holding onto his arm as they walked out of the ring and through the crowd. Yao chucked and shook his head; he would have to thank Luna for this later though he wasn't exactly sure how. Mei was already thinking one step ahead of him.

"I thinking of giving her this ribbon, it was my mother's," She said as if reading Yao's thoughts. Yao looked down to see a crimson ribbon in her hand with small white flowers decorated across it, "before she died, she gave to me. She told me it would protect me, but I don't think I need it anymore. I have you now after all right?"

"Yeah, I guess you do. I'll do my best to look after you princess." Yao stopped in his place and bowed.

"Oh no need to be so formal Yao, just call me Mei," Mei smiled before looking around, "Now where's the corn cob stand? I'm hungry."

The other two guardians and princesses weren't the only two enjoying themselves as Ling took his chances with Ting-Ting in an attempt to bust out quite a few humorous jokes forcing Ting-Ting to cover her mouth once again.

"Okay, what did Attila say when he got back home?" Ling jumped around ecstatically, when no answer was heard; he continued on, "Hun, I'm ho-oome!" His laughter echoed across the streets, with some bystanders looking over to them. Ting-Ting looked around and tried to stop him, or at least she would have been successful had she not had to worry about covering her own mouth.

Eventually the laughter died when Ling realised that Ting-Ting had not been responding to any of his jokes and he sighed. It was possible she did not actually want to be here with him but even so he was determined to make her happy.

"Forget it, let's just find somewhere else to-" His sentence was interrupted when he walked right into a stall when he wasn't looking. On the table had once been a pot of curry currently being heated and now its position had been relocated to on top of Ling's head. He screamed and ran around in circles as he struggled to get the pot of what he admitted smelled rather delicious but hot none the less curry off his head.

Ting-Ting could no longer control herself and burst out into a series of uncontrollable laughing fits, which resembled something between a half snort and half laugh. Ling was finally able to take of the pot in time to see Ting-Ting laughing and he beamed broadly.

"Finally! I've finally made you laugh!" Ling seemed rather proud of himself, the opposite of what Ting-Ting was feeling at the moment.

"Oh ha ha snort, no, please don't. Ha ha snort, my laugh is so, ha ha, embarrassing!" Ting-Ting chortled trying to grab at her ribs but failing repeatedly.

"I think it sound rather cute, what do you mean it's embarrassing?" Ling asked patting the laughing girl on the back.

"You don't mean that, ha ha snort, really?" No matter how hard she tried, she simply could not stop. Was Ling honestly serious that he thought her pig of a laugh was cute?

"Nope, not cute. Absolutely perfect!" Ling's intents seemed to be honest and amicable from what she could tell.

"Okay, I still can't believe you like my laugh though." She finally calmed down and looked over at him.

"I'm hoping there's more where that came from." Ling growled playfully.

"Only if there's more where that came from." Ting-Ting pointed to the curry on his face.

Ling licked some of the curry neared to his mouth, "I try."

Meanwhile the man at the stand looked at the two as they walked away, "Hey, are you gonna pay for that?" He yelled before thinking it other, "Actually, it's free on me. As long as you two are happy, so am I," He smiled before looking down on the ground to the pot and the other remains of curry, "Man, maybe I should have asked him to at least clean it up."

The night carried on, with all three pairs eventually meeting by the bridge to gaze upon the wonderful moon.

"I wish every night could be like this." Su broke the silence receiving murmurs of agreement from everyone.

"I don't really ever want this night to end. The moon looks so different tonight." Mei told them as she rested her chin on Yao's shoulders and looked up.

"I think it's an entirely different one." Su said, Chien-Po having his arms around her body.

"Agreed with that sister." Ting-Ting grinned as she snuggled into Ling's chest.

"I know I've never seen anything like it," A voice called out from below them. They all turned quickly to face Mulan who was giving a stern look, "Well? I'm waiting."

Everyone stuttered and tried to make some sort of strong statement. They were all unsure of how to approach it, but Mei soon figured that simplicity would probably be the strongest form of a statement.

"It's love Fa Mulan. Yao and myself, Chien-Po and Su and-"

"And myself and Lingy-bear. Uh, I mean Ling." Ting-Ting carried on hugging Ling tightly.

Mulan's expression to this was priceless. Her open mouth eventually crawled into a giant smile until she squealed and ran up to them.

The couples all cheered happy that Mulan was accepting as she embraced the three princesses in a hug.

"Group hug." Chien-Po said lifting the six of them up and pulling them in for a hug.

"I'm so happy for you guys." Mulan managed to gasp as she was crushed against over bodies in the group.

Chien-Po's grip on them was cut short by the sound of the whinny of a horse. All six of the fell on their behinds and could only look on in fear as Shang approached with Luna and Sora tailing shortly behind him.

Luna was sure that Shang would move to place the blame on Mulan, if his previous ramblings were anything to go by. She was determined to prevent that from happening, especially when it was her fault that they had gone in the first place. She gave a sigh of relief when she saw that they had not been endangered in anyway and from the looks of it before they were alerted by Shang's horse, she could see that her previous plan had worked wonders on their relationships.

"I'll handle this." Mulan told the three princesses as she, Yao, Ling and Chien-Po made their way down the bridge to meet with the other three.

Shang disembarked and approached the four with a menacing look, "I'm so sorry to crash your party. I honestly thought myself that we had a mission to accomplish but I was clearly wrong."

"Shang, it's not their fault-"

"You're right Mulan, it isn't. It's yours. I can't believe you would place your heart above your duty at a time like this." Shang interposed.

"What are you talking about? My duty is to my heart Shang and if you can't accept that then that's your problem." Mulan defended.

"What am I talking about? How about this?" Shang pulled out a scroll and unfolded it dramatically before perusing through its contents, "Dear father, I am sorry but I will be unable to fulfil the mission set out for me under circumstances that I'm afraid can't be discussed in detail. Simply put, I am in love with another and have discovered that my duty is not to the mission, but my heart."

"I wasn't going to send it." Mei cried out as she and the rest of the princesses met up with the group.

"That is enough. How could you do this to your father? Promises are meant to be kept and you're thinking about breaking them? Did you ever stop to consider how your father would feel? How the country would feel? Forget the mission, your silly little dating session could have possibly cost yours lives especially if the Heartless had been here." Shang chided loudly causing the princesses to lower their heads in shame.

"Don't call it a silly little dating session." Luna shouted wanting to displace her anger and frustrations on this man who was attacking her friends because of what they believed.

"Luna." Sora said but he was too late to stop her, Luna was already making her way to Shang.

"First of all, it was me who convinced them to follow their hearts and go out on a date. Mulan had nothing to do with it. Secondly, I would say I'm sorry about doing it but that would be lying to both you and me, the fact is that they didn't encounter any Heartless, and they've clearly bonded with each other and therefore I have no regrets." Luna spat. It wasn't that she wanted to scratch his eyes out but he certainly was annoying her with his insular attitude.

"Just one thing Luna, I won't allow you to take all the blame for this. I also was a part of this as you said before Shang, but whether they took the advice or not has nothing to do with us, it was their own free will." Mulan said looking at Luna and giving a smile.

"But you both implanted the idea in their minds in the first place, do you deny that?"

"No but-"

"But nothing, the chances of their being danger was high even if you claim that you have no regrets Luna. Would you have been saying the same thing had they been attacked? You three," Shang pointed to Yao, Ling and Chien-Po, "are to escort the princesses back to their tents. You are not allowed to enter their tents or even talk to them. The same goes for you Luna. Sora, if you can't keep your girlfriend in check there will be serious issues to be had."

"She's not my girlfriend!" Sora yelled back annoyed and unsure where to inject himself into the subject. Luna had pretty much ignored him about the whole not interfering with the worlds rule but at the same time, could he honestly blame her for what she did? He watched as the princesses mounted the horses they came on however the three guardians made sure to stay off the horses this time and only drag the horses by the reins. Suddenly Mei realised she still had the crimson ribbon in her hand and got off her horse quickly.

"Princess?" Yao asked confusedly until he realised what she wanted to do. Mei raced towards Luna and opened the girl's palm rather forcefully before shoving the ribbon into her hand and closing it. Mei smiled sadly before hurrying back to her horse.

Luna opened her hand and traced her fingers across the silk. She smiled brightly before showing the ribbon to Sora, Mulan and Shang, the latter placing his head in his hands.

"You know what the problem is Shang? You're a great guy and all, you really are," Mulan placed her hand on his shoulders, "but you don't follow your heart. Sometimes I even wonder if you do have a heart."

The comment shocked Sora and Luna, and most of all Shang himself. So this is how their relationship would end? After all they had worked for.

"What? You can't mean that Mulan surely? Look, whatever it is between you two, you can work it out, I'm sure you can." Sora begged.

"Maybe not this time. This assignment has made it very clear. I see now that we're very different people." Shang said gravely,

"Maybe too different." Mulan replied before Shang walked off and got onto his horse.

"We have an assignment to complete." Shang said before he took off after the princesses, he would no doubt be keeping an eye on all of them now more so than before.

"Have I made the situation worse?" Luna questioned. At least they had all had a bit of freedom and were able to communicate with each other before this, now the princesses weren't allowed to talk to anyone and Mulan and Shang had broken up.

"You did what you thought was right." Sora said watching Mulan who pulled out a pendant showing the yang symbol which her parents had given to her shortly before she had departed. The other half, the yin was around Shang's neck. She had once talked about opposites complimenting each other, and while that was still partly true maybe not all of them did.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Luna suddenly turned to Sora, "You just stood there Sora."

Sora winced before saying, "Okay, you want to know what I think? I think that you should not have done what you did since we're not supposed to interrupt with the events of this world." He didn't even care that Mulan was there over hearing him talk about worlds.

"I knew I couldn't ask you for help."

"You knew? How did you know that I wouldn't have been willing? Are you saying that I don't follow my own heart?"

"I'm saying that from the moment you told me that interfering with world affairs was the wrong thing to do, I knew I couldn't go to you for help." Luna answered his question.

"You thought I might try to stop you…" Sora nodded in understanding, "Even so, I was still hurt that you didn't tell me Luna. I don't think this arranged marriage thing is a good idea but as much as I hate to say it, the General's right. You could have endangered this world by your actions. You can't do that because… well…"

"Because I'm a Keyblade wielder right? That's what you wanted to say? I'm sorry Sora but what's the point of having a Keyblade if I can't make a difference in people's lives? I didn't even use the Keyblade to get them together and it still counts as meddling?"

"It doesn't just apply to Keyblade wielders. It's all travellers in general." Sora told them.

"World?" Mulan mumbled to herself as she watched the two argue.

"So? That doesn't answer my other questions. If all I can do is protect the world from the Heartless then that's just a small part of the problem isn't it? What about this? What about this is right? I don't know about you but I can't just sit back and do nothing. What happened to the boy Kairi talked about?"

"Kairi? What does she have to do with anything?" Sora asked.

"Before we left Radiant Garden, she talked about you to me. That you were pretty much a rule bender who followed only what your heart told you. Why do you care so much about these rules when there a people suffering from things other than Heartless?" Luna asked. Sora's eyes moved from Luna's eyes down to the ribbon she was holding in her hand before looking away.

"I just want to keep this world safe," He said closing his eyes, "I can't let anymore worlds be swallowed up in darkness like my islands or anymore worlds to be affected by someone like Xehanort and if our actions end up doing that then I won't be able to forgive myself. It's my duty as a Keyblade Master to-"

"Oh don't give me that crap about being a Keyblade Master. I want to know what _you_ think Sora." Luna said walking up to him and placing her head on his shoulders. She was tired but she also didn't want to be seen crying.

Sora hesitated before smiling, "They're just guidelines," Sora laughed and Luna giggled, her laughs being muffled by the fabric of Sora's clothes, "Thanks Luna. Who says I'm not fun anyway huh? I'm still the funnest person you'll ever meet in your life."

"'Funnest' is not a word Sora, but you're actually right about that. It is pretty fun to be with you." Luna rolled her eyes and smiled at him.

"But, what can we do anymore? And how would we stop the marriage from happening anyway?"

"…Yeah, still haven't thought about that. I was hoping you'd have a few ideas up your sleeves." Luna quickly swiped the tears away from her face and looked up at him stepping away.

"Well maybe if someone had told me sooner," Sora grinned before saying, "Don't worry. I'll think of something… eventually. Actually we all will, won't we Mulan?"

"So you're from another world? That's where you wander off to when you said that you have to leave? Huh, I didn't really think there would be other worlds, well you obviously seemed like you weren't around from here but other worlds?" Mulan said dazed.

"Oh, we weren't supposed to tell you that. Just don't tell anyone okay? It's kind of supposed to be a secret." Sora scratched his head anxiously.

"My lips are sealed. And yes, hopefully we'll think of something, but for now let's get back to camp. I don't know about you two but I sure am tired."

* * *

As soon as dawn broke the next day, the group set off once more. They felt heavier as they carried the burdens of the previous night, obvious by the amount of silence in the air throughout the journey. Indeed it was so silent, that Sora and Luna felt that talking with each other would be a crime. As the entered into a mountain pass, Shang and Mulan did their best to avoid each other's eyes. The Heartless were also quick on their feet and tried to intercept the group in any way possible. At one point, Sora, Luna, Mulan and Shang had to clear a whole wall of Heartless before proceeding. Surprisingly, regardless of her breaking off her relationship, Mulan had continued to show ferocity in her attacks, perhaps a way of channelling her anger on something much like Luna had done with Shang.

Luna wished she could thank Mei for the ribbon but as long as Shang was around, she probably would not be able to do that.

_What is he even going to do about it? I'm not a soldier. _Luna had thought as she looked over at the three princesses who were now riding on a single horse after the other two had been tired out. If she could at least whisper to them then she could tell them what she had on her mind. She slowed down deliberately until she was riding right alongside the princesses. Her waving managed to catch their attention and they looked on with smiles of appreciation.

"Mei, thanks for the ribbon. It's beautiful." Luna whispered pointing to her hair which had the ribbon tied to her half ponytail.

"It looks nice on you Luna. Thanks for defending us." Mei whispered back and the other princesses nodded their heads. Sora looking back behind him, slowed down to talk to the princesses as well.

"We're thinking of everything we can to get you guys out of this, we'll see what we can do." Sora told them.

"Thank you so much, you two have been so kind to us. We hope to repay you and Fa Mulan someday." Ting-Ting said placing her hands on her chest.

"You don't have to repay us. We're helping because we want to, so don't give up on Yao, Ling and Chien-Po yet." Sora said before moving on to talk to Mulan.

"It's okay girl, you still got me. Would you like anything to eat?" Mushu said trying to cheer up the desolate Mulan.

Mulan held up her Yang pendant and showed it to Mushu, "My father said that differences can make you stronger. I guess he just didn't realise that we were too different."

Mushu's face drooped. Surely he was doing the right thing? But now he felt more distant than ever from her, so what was going on? Cri-Kee shook its tiny fist in anger in attempt to criticise the cricket.

"Oh shut it, just you wait until she realises what I've done for her, then it'll going back to the good old days. You just wait an' see." It was more like Mushu was trying to reaffirm his own being at this point.

"What have you done for her?" Sora asked suspiciously just able to pick up Mushu's voice as he rode beside Mulan.

"Well you know, guardian stuff and what not. Yep, that's right, that's all I did." Mushu sweated as he looked at anywhere but Sora.

"Right, well once this is done. Make sure you take care of her Mushu. She is your best friend after all right?" Sora looked up to Mulan who smiled back at him.

"The best… and I wouldn't have it any other way." Mulan said sweetly looking at Mushu.

"OKAY OKAY I ADMIT IT!" Mushu cried finally caving in under pressure, "The only thing wrong with you and Shang is me. I got in between you."

Mulan looked at Sora before looking back, "What are you talking about? It's not like you pushed the carriage into the river."

"Well actually that was an accident resulting from many failed and deliberate attempts."

"And you were outside Shang's tent imitating me and the princesses?"

"Well, you know how I can gab."

"And you also went into his tent and woke up?"

"And believe me that was pretty hard to do. Man you were right about him being a snorer." Mushu said leaving a very peeved Mulan and Sora.

"So when you said you knew nothing about the carriage back at the river… I knew it, how could you do such a thing Mushu?" Sora asked, he didn't even know why he asked, if he knew Mushu well if enough, it generally was for only one thing.

"Well come on, can't we talk about this-"

"Answer the question!" Mulan gritted her teeth to prevent herself from shouting.

"I didn't want to lose you okay? You were getting married and the ancestors told me that if you were to be married you'd take up Shang's ancestors as your guardians and I would be kicked on the curb and I couldn't stand that." Mushu explained quickly.

"So self-profit then? Because of you Mulan and Shang have been fighting over absolutely nothing and no one can even talk to anyone properly without seeming to choke from atmosphere. Do you want to handle this Mulan, or should I? Because I'm seriously afraid of what I might do if you allow me." Sora said angrily, he was actually considering whether to strangle Mushu or not right now.

"Wait Sora. You said we've been fighting over absolutely nothing right?" Mulan repeated his words as if just trying to confirm what he said.

"Uh, yeah? What about?" Sora asked.

"Don't you see Sora? We're not so different after all," Mulan looked down at her pendant once more and smiled, "What you did was unforgivable Mushu, but I have other things to do first, we'll discuss this later."

"Go get him Mulan." Sora grinned as Mulan rushed on ahead to tell Shang the good news.

"Sora, what's happening?" Luna asked joining Sora with quick pace.

"There not that different after all. They're perfect for each other." Sora smiled at her warmly.

"Shang!" Mulan yelled.

"I promise I'll make it up to you Mulan."

"I don't want to hear any promises from you," Mulan said callously to Mushu before turning back to Shang, "SHANG!"

Shang stopped in time to narrowly miss an arrow and have it hit the mountain next to him.

"Ambush!" Shang yelled but it was too late. Bandits jumped out from their hidden locations and surrounded them. Yao, Ling and Chien-Po made for the princesses quickly but were blocked by one of the bandits allowing three others to take them away from the horse. Sora and Luna pulled out their Keyblades and knocked their way through the bandits in order to get to the princesses.

"Luna, duck!" A voice from behind called. Luna ducked just in time as Mulan gave a flying kick knocking the bandit behind her away.

"Thanks Mulan." Luna said before continuing on after the bandits. Shang drew his sword and slashed his way past the bandits dodging the stabs by their knives. Sora aimed his Keyblade at the bandit holding Su and shot a blizzard. The ice caught his leg freezing it in place and making him drop the orange clad girl. Shang wall kicked against the mountain path reaching the other two bandits and kicked the other one in his ribs, allowing him to catch Ting-Ting. Luna ran hastily and threw her Keyblade at the last bandit carrying Mei, but something else came in the way. Just before it could hit, a Bolt Tower appeared taking the blow instead and vanishing.

"Heartless?" Luna yelled, as several more Heartless appeared, more than Sora and Luna had ever fought so far.

"What the hell?" One of the bandits said as he tried to run but was tackled by an Air Soldier. The man's expressionless face and the heart coming out of his body and flying into the sky, confirmed that he was dead. Soon his body was replaced by another Air Soldier. It had been the first time Luna had seen the Heartless kill someone directly and while it did freak her out, her fear would have been larger if not for the fact that Mei was still in danger.

"We'll take it from here. Mulan, Shang, go after Mei. You three, keep the other two princesses safe." Sora said nudging his head for the three soldiers to go.

"You sure you can handle them by yourselves?" Mulan asked.

"Not like we have much choice, now go!" Luna yelled before turning her back in time to parry and counterattack a Nightwalker. Mulan and Shang looked at each other, the first time in a while before nodding firmly and heading off down the path attacking the bandits and dodging the Heartless in their way.

"This is going to take forever!" Sora dropped his head unenthusiastically.

"Come on Sora, it's not like that's stopped you before. Why don't you show me how fun you can be?" Luna smiled getting into her battle position.

"You're sounding suspiciously a lot like Riku, you know that?" Sora chuckled before turning back and charging in.

* * *

**So the Heartless are appearing in droves and this is about to get a lot crazier. So in this chapter, Mei gives Luna a ribbon as thanks and I'll say that that will definitely have some use later on. Not going to say what that is but it does have some use. Next chapter will be the final one for the Land of Dragons and then we'll be moving on. So see you then.**


	34. Yin and Yang Pt 2

Chapter 34

Yin and Yang Pt 2

"What's going on? Stay back you monster." Another bandit yelled from far away, Sora rushed to him in an effort to save him but there was not enough time to reach him and soon Sora was watching another heart float into the sky creating yet another Heartless.

"Retreat!" The other bandits echoed across the mountain pass as they scrambled to make it to the exits. Sora and Luna carved a path through the pass by taking out the Heartless in the area. A group of Rapid Thrusters who were in the process of attacking another bandit were soon defeated by a flurry of flames as Sora fire dashed into them.

Luna kept her distance choosing to stick to strike raids as the Heartless came in groups. She had become much better at throwing the Keyblade successfully and found it to be the best choice with her still injured ankle, though even that seemed to barely affect her performance anymore.

"Now you're getting the hang of it," Sora complimented as he watched, unfortunately Luna turned her head to make some witty remark and accidently flung the Keyblade in his direction, "Or not." Sora quickly dropped to the ground and rolled onto his back before eliminating three Nightwalkers with repeated use of thunder magic.

"Oops, sorry." Luna laughed nervously before sensing something behind her and spinning around quickly to slash through a Nightwalker.

"Sorry? Sorry she says." Sora shook his head before kicking hard of the ground. He looked around before his attention turned to a group of bandits closing in on the princesses and Yao, Ling and Chien-Po. Behind the bandits and approaching steadily were two Assault Riders.

"You may want to turn you attention to behind you." Yao advised while trembling.

The bandits turned quickly and their truculent demeanour soon became that of fear. One of the men held his sword at the Heartless as he backed away slowly.

"You don't scare us. Men, go after him!" The bandit's voice shook, he seemed to be the leader of the pack from the way he talked down to his men, "Men?" He turned around to find the rest of his fellow bandits gone in a flash of lightning and racing for the bridge where Mulan and Shang had headed off to, "OH COME ON! Fine, I'll handle this by myself."

"Does this guy have a death wish?" Sora chided to himself, before racing towards the Heartless. He grabbed on to one of the Hook Bat Heartless in his field of view and swung his way rapidly to the man's location using the Hook Bat to take out aerial Heartless on the way there. Luna watched in awe as Sora let go of the confused Heartless and dropped down to where the Bandit was and knocked him away with his Keyblade before slide dashing towards the Assault Riders and performed a Zantetsuken, an impossibly fast and flashy attack which took out both the centaur like Heartless in one strike. Luna barely had even time to register that a hit had been made much less that Sora had even moved before the Heartless had disappeared leaving hearts flowing into the sky.

"Sora, that was awesome!" Luna called from far away ignoring the other Heartless in the area that were coming to her. She so wished that she could do that.

"And that was from your friendly neighbourhood clown." Sora thumped his chest proudly. Luna laughed before focusing back on the Heartless near her. She figured the best thing to do would be to head to Sora and the others and make sure that the princesses were kept safe.

Luna breathed in and out for a while before deciding to wing it over to them. She dashed into the deep mountain valley, slashing through all the Heartless in her way. A Bolt Tower slammed down creating a shockwave which Luna jumped quickly to avoid and threw her Keyblade at the Bolt Tower taking it out. She landed back on the ground and caught her Keyblade before continuing to take out the rest of the Heartless. She was almost at her destination until an Air Soldier swooped down and attacked her. Luna looked to her left just in time to perceive the attack and held her Keyblade in front of her to guard. The hit connected, the powerful swipe enough to disarm her and knock her back several feet.

The Air Soldier went in for another attack but Luna dodge rolled out of the way, summoned her Keyblade and jump slashed through the Air Soldier.

"Way to go Luna!" Sora told her before turning to the other six, "Let's go meet up with Mulan and Shang. Quickly, before the Heartless get over here."

Sora led the way to the bridge where the bandit had taken Mei with Luna staying in the rear to take out the Rapid Thrusters which were speeding towards them. Luna jumped backwards slightly to gather some momentum before jumping towards the Thrusters sliding her hand from the handle to the Keychain and performing a Chain Rave, swinging the Keyblade around in such a way that it allowed Luna to mince through the Heartless easily.

"I really have to try that some more." Luna breathed heavily, tired by the amount of energy consumed by the attack.

"Luna, stop showing off and come on." Sora called to her from the distance. She turned to him and stuck her tongue out at him before following after them.

Mulan and Shang raced across the bridge where Mei was being hauled along by a bandit who kept constantly turning around to see how close Mulan and Shang were to him. With alacrity, Shang raced for the bandit and tackled him making him drop Mei. Mulan ran up to the frightened princess and took her into his arms before taking her back to the other side of the bridge while Shang and the bandit engaged in fist fighting. Shang threw a punch at the bandit who ducked and took a full swing at Shang's stomach knocking him to the ground.

"Shang!" Mulan yelled as she headed back for the bridge. The bandit sneered and ran to the other side eventually stopping short of end of it. Mulan helped Shang up quickly but soon dropped alongside him again. Looking up, Mulan and Shang saw the immediate problem. The bandit had taken out his sword and was cutting into the ropes that tied the bridge to the support on his side and theirs. The bandit took another swing and cut into the rope, causing it to snap and the bridge to flip on its side. Mulan and Shang were flung off the bridge and to the side, having only the rope to hold on to. But even that was going to end soon, with the rope twisting and thinning by the second. The bandit laughed and headed off choosing deliberately not to cut the rest of the rope to allow them both to say their final goodbyes.

Sora, Luna and the others soon had made it to the bridge, or at least what had once been the bridge. Ting-Ting and Su hugged Mei while Sora and Luna peered down below. Nothing but rushing water and the added possibility of rocks made the two feel uneasy about Mulan and Shang's situation.

Under their weight, the rope finally snapped sending Mulan and Shang flying and eventually being stopped in their tracks by the walls of the cliff. Mulan still had one hand held onto the rope but she was slowly losing her grip due to the weight of her other hand holding on to Shang's.

"Mulan, listen to me. Both of us can't get back up and-"

"No Shang, I don't want to hear what you're going to say, we will get back up, we will!" Mulan cried as she held onto him for dear life. The sockets of her arms felt as if they were going to tear out and she didn't know for how long she could hold on.

"Everyone, pull on the rope." Sora ordered grabbing the rope from the support and handing it to the others. Everyone tried to hoist the two back up, Chien-Po and Yao being able to contribute slightly more due to their size and strength respectively.

Shang felt himself growing weak, "Mulan I-"

"Shut up, you can tell after we get back up."

"I'm sorry." With that Mulan's grip on Shang loosened and he slipped out of her hand falling into the crushing waters below.

Mulan screamed his name and soon was kicking and scratching once Sora and the others had successfully lifted her back up. Mulan tried to make her way back to the edge hoping to find anything hinting that Shang was actually alive but there was no trace of him. The current was too strong and Shang's body had no doubt been carried away with it. She eventually stopped moving and stared into the ground in defeat. She had lost Shang as soon as she had found that there was still something to their relationship.

"Mulan, do you need some time alone. We can wait for you until you're ready." Sora placed his hand on Mulan's shoulder and giving her a reassuring squeeze. She looked up at him and gave what hardly resembled a smile then looked back down at her own lap. Sora let go of her and then stepped away gesturing for the others to follow. The Heartless seemed to have disappeared now and the rest of the bandits had been either knocked out or had their heart stolen among the Heartless. Sora and Luna quickly told the others that they were going to check to make sure there was nothing else back at the path they had just come from.

"So that's what the Heartless do. Do you ever stop to think that while we're in one world protecting it, there are other worlds that are in danger and without any help?" Luna didn't want to outright come out and say she feared lives being taken in the other worlds when they weren't there.

"Oh, that was the first time for you, huh? But yeah, I think about it all the time. There's not much we can do about it though, we can only just keep protecting the worlds we come across." Sora said.

"Can the Heartless ever truly be defeated?" Luna asked.

"As long as darkness exists in every heart, then the Heartless will continue to exist. But this is just abnormal; the last time I fought them there was less. Now, they seem to be increasing, I haven't seen this many Heartless in a while. We just need to find the keyhole as quickly as possible before the Heartless do," Sora informed her before looking at the sky, "it's about to rain. Let's get back to the others." They headed back to the three princesses and their guardians after finding nothing, which was actually a problem as their horses were also not there except for Mulan's and Shang's which meant that they had been stolen during the fight.

The group sat down and under the thick trees and watched as the rain drenched the tear soaked Mulan. She seemed almost like an inanimate object as she stared down at her sword, her own face looked back at her and soon she thought she was seeing someone else's face, Shang. But it was just her imagination and she would never get him back. She cried and stabbed the sword in the earth before resting her forehead upon the hilt.

The hours seemed to drag by and eventually the rain had stopped, the sun had come out and Mulan had come to a decision. She would not let Shang's death be in vain. She would also not allow any dangers to come to the princesses, whether it was bandits, Heartless or arranged marriage. She had nothing left, but the mission to finish. She said as much herself as well as she joined her friends who had managed to stay out of much of the rain from the thick brambles above them.

"Fa Mulan, we will go ahead with marriage now." Ting-Ting said. The other two princesses nodded almost robotically but Mulan wasn't having any of it now.

"No, you're orders are to protect each other. But rest assured, I will finish this mission. I'm going on ahead to Qui-Gong to check up on something." Mulan said half truthfully, while she was heading for Qui-Gong, her plan was a lot more furtive and personally for her, more painful.

"You don't want us to go with you Mulan?" Luna asked, she believed that Mulan wasn't telling the truth, or at least all of it.

"Sora, Luna. You've been wonderful friends and I'm glad I met you but this is something I have to do on my own. If this works out, peace will be secured for all of China and they won't have to get married. I want you to get the princesses back home safely. I'll try and find a way out for you, I promise." Mulan told them before hugging Luna. Sora and Luna gave each other questioning looks as she let go and turned to hug Sora. If Mulan's plan was so simple as to 'check up on something' then why did this feel less like a plan and more like a goodbye?

"Mulan let me come with you, please?" Mushu begged as he and Cri-Kee went up to her.

Mulan looked down but seemed to raise no objections, rather she just nodded. She had accepted that whatever had happened had happened in the past and it wasn't as if it mattered at this point anyway.

She finished hugging the rest of the group before whistling to attract her horse. Mushu and Cri-Kee got into the bag and Mulan hoisted herself onto the horse and gave the group one last look before leaving.

"She's up to something; I don't believe her when she says that she wants to check up on something." Luna told the group.

"Yeah, it doesn't make sense. She says that she wants to complete the mission but-"

"That can only happen if we get married." Su finished Yao's sentence.

A thought soon snapped in Sora's head, "No, surely she wouldn't… It's not exactly a necessity that it has to be you three though, is it?"

"What are you getting at Sora?" Mei asked.

"He means that Mulan thinks that as long as someone is married, it won't make a difference," Luna explained catching on to Sora's thought process, "So she wants to take your place."

"WHAT?" The other six shouted causing Sora to cover his ears and Luna to tense up.

"We have to do something then. We can't sit by and allow her to go through with this." Ting-Ting said.

"And she won't, we promise, but you can't come along. If they find out you're there they could just force you to get married right off the bat. I won't let that happen." Luna promised them.

"_We_ won't let that happen," Sora corrected, "Just take Shang's horse, go back to the river and wait for us there."

"Alright Sora, we all have faith in you two," Mei put her hands around both her sisters sitting on either side, "Do your best."

"Right, let's go." Sora looked at Luna and together the two ran for down the path Mulan had set off down.

* * *

"I see, what an unfortunate circumstance," Lord Qin, the priest of Qui-Gong said as he was sneakily told by Mulan that princesses had fallen gravely ill and would not be able to make it, "But still, a wedding was planned and a wedding must go ahead."

"I agree your worship, which is why I would gladly take the place of the three princesses with your permission." Mulan bowed and gasps were heard across the room.

"But that's impossible, I can't-" Lord Qin was soon interrupted by his advisor.

"But sire, I think it may work to our advantage. The hero of China marrying one of your sons. It would bring all of China to a standstill."

Lord Qin hesitated, "True, true," After some more careful thought and pacing he turned back to Mulan, "Well, I don't see why not. You shall be married to my son, Prince Jeeki." He pointed over to his son and automatically Mulan could see that she had made the right choice in not allowing the princesses to marry. Jeeki could be described as anything but the perfect prince, he didn't even seem like how an average teenage boy his age would act. He looked rather down trodden and isolated from the rest of the world as if he wasn't there. Mulan's hands wondered down to the prince's stomach which he was grabbing for some reason, was he hungry?

"Uh, th- that would be w-wonderful." Mulan said as she tried to divert her attention away from the weird prince.

"Then you two shall be married at sun down. This is wonderful, let the preparations begin!" Lord Qin said before walking off and leaving Mulan alone with the adviser to gather her thoughts.

_And this is how my world ends, not with a bang, but a whimper. _Mulan thought as she followed the adviser to her room so she could get ready.

Mulan sat on the chair in front of the dressing table and watched as she was transformed into a completely different person. She thought it fitting really. The time seemed to go by pretty quickly and Mulan counted down the last minutes of freedom she had left.

"Mulan, I would give up a thousand pedestals if I could stop this." Mushu placed his hands on Mulan's cheeks.

"Thanks Mushu, but not even the dragon of unity can help me now. I guess this is goodbye." Mulan said.

Meanwhile, Sora and Luna had finally made it to the city walls after a tiring run.

"State your business. What are you here for?" The guard in front of the doors to the city said in a firm and superior tone.

"My friend, you've got to help her. She's sick from the long journey and needs a place to stay for the night." Sora said desperately as Luna struggled to hold on to Sora whilst panting heavily.

"Oh no, she doesn't look so good. Come right in." The guard smiled before ordering the other one to open the door.

"Thanks," Sora winked before helping Luna into the city. When they were a far enough distance, Sora let go, "You're a good actor you know that?"

"That wasn't acting; I was actually just rather lazy so I just let you carry me in." Luna grinned jumping about excitedly to restore some energy.

"You-! You know what? It worked either way so I'll let that one slide." Sora told her as they navigated their way through the streets of Qui-Gong to the large building at the end of the city which they assumed was the royal palace. Already everyone that they saw were on their way to the palace which meant that Mulan had already talked to the ruler about replacing the princesses.

"You weren't bad yourself, acting I mean. Anyway let's hurry past all these people so we can get a good view." Luna said and the two started down a jog to the palace, moving ahead of other people quickly.

They soon entered the palace after a check-up had been performed on them by guards and immediately stopped admiring the scale of it all. The Imperial Square was magnificent and gigantesque in size, easily allowing for possibly a thousand or more to be in the area at once. If there were a thousand people coming to watch this event then Sora felt sorry for the guards at the door.

On top of the steps was Lord Qin, the adviser and his sons including Jeeki who had the utter look of loneliness in his face. For some reason also, Sora couldn't express why but the man's eyes seemed entirely blank and devoid of life almost as if he wasn't a part of the world.

"That's who Mulan's going to marry. Ew, we really have to stop this marriage now, right Sora. Sora?" Luna looked to her side but Sora had already been one step ahead, pushing through the crowd to get closer to the steps, "You could have at least warned me." Luna followed after him quickly but kept getting her view obstructed by the crowd. She wasn't even sure if she was going the right way, all she knew was that going straight seemed the best option. Trumpets were soon played and the doors behind Lord Qin and the others on the stage opened revealing Mulan who was being guided out by the maidens. Mulan held her fan close to her eyes and kept telling herself inside that she would cry.

_Time to crash this wedding. _Sora thought as he ducked and crawled under a rather large man to get to the front, he was lucky he wasn't being trampled already. He got up just in time to watch Mulan join the prince.

The crowd quietened as Lord Qin began to speak, "We are gathered here today to forge a secret pact, one that will go down in our country's history."

"They're not even trying to hide that this is political." Luna whispered into her sleeve disgusted as she tried to find Sora but the unmovable crowd seemed to make that impossible.

"The hero of China, Fa Mulan, has graciously decided to accept Prince Jeeki's hand in marriage out of the kindness of her own heart." Lord Qin continued.

"Heart? Huh?" Mulan said in a low voice.

"Sorry, did you say something dear?" Lord Qin asked managing to pick up on the murmur.

"No, please continue." Mulan said.

"Please don't!" Sora yelled running up the steps. The crowd gasped and the guards already had their weapons trained on Sora.

"Sora? I told you not to come." Mulan said.

"Yeah, that was before I realised what you were planning to do. This is now." Sora answered. At least Luna knew where Sora was finally so she could easily make her way to him, though some members of the crowd were simply unmoving.

"You know this boy? Who is he?" Lord Qin yelled.

"He's my friend; please don't do anything to him. I just need to talk to him for a few seconds, is that all right with you?" Mulan asked.

They then heard a voice they weren't expecting, "You'll have to talk with me too." Mulan and Sora searched for the familiar voice in the distance until they saw who it was. Riding on his horse, rather soaked from water and in plain sight, was Shang.

"Shang!" Mulan yelled in a mixture of half surprise and half excitement.

Shang rode his way through as the crowd divided to allow him which finally also allowed Luna to emerge from the crowd and run up the stairs.

"Luna, you're here too." Mulan said not so sure if she wanted to go ahead with the wedding now.

"We're here for you Mulan; you don't have to do this. The only marriage that's going to happen here is our marriage," Shang got of his horse and walked up to Mulan. Mulan smiled broadly and jumped into his arms, "I've thought about what you've said. And-"

"And…" Sora said playfully waiting for him to say the magic words.

"I'm sorry. I should have listened to my heart like you said. And you were right to do what you thought was right for the princesses." Shang said.

"There we go, but honestly Mulan barely anything to do with it Shang. It was actually just me that helped to get them together." Luna added in.

"Try not to ruin the moment Luna." Sora said only to receive a punch on the shoulder for it.

"What is this? Guards, seize them!" Lord Qin pointed at Sora, Luna and Shang. The guards were about to take them when fire breathed out from above causing everyone below it to jump away.

"I am the golden dragon of unity!" The golden statue above them exclaimed though Sora and Mulan were able to recognise the voice immediately, Mushu.

"Oh mighty dragon of unity, these criminals have intruded upon this important wedding." Lord Qin bowed down as far as he possibly could.

"Silence!" Mushu breathed fire down scaring the priest and making him run out of danger, "I will decide what goes on here. There will be a wedding and it will happen right now, but not because of arranged marriage. The lady will be allowed to choose whoever she wants and I think it's clearly obvious who she's picked already. Just look at this lovely couple here folks." Mushu wiped a tear from his eye as Cri-Kee patted him on the back.

Mulan looked deeply into Shang's eyes and vice versa. Sora stared on happily but was interrupted when Luna touched his shoulder and pointed to Prince Jeeki.

"Uh, is your son gonna be alright?" Sora asked pointing to the boy who was curled up in a ball.

"Huh? Son, what are you doing? Son?" Lord Qin shouted trying to get the boy's attention.  
"Don't shout at me, you're not my father!" Jeeki said in an unusually high pitched voice.

"What? Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?" Lord Qin said as he walked up to Jeeki.

"Where am I? Why do I feel so sick? Urk-AHH!" The prince suddenly screamed startling everyone. Darkness flowed out of him the likes Sora had never seen before pushing everyone back. Lord Qin, who had been right by his son, had been knocked by right in the crowd, falling on some of them.

"What's going on?" Mulan asked as the ear-pitch scream forced her to close her eyes shut.

"We're about to find out!" Sora yelled so she could hear before summoning his Keyblade. A heart disappeared into the sky and cloaked itself in darkness, the noise finally disappearing along with the young prince's body.

"Wait, don't tell me-" But Luna didn't have to say anymore. In the heart's place was a tall Heartless dressed in a green cheongsam, a body-hugging dress which clung to the Heartless' tall figure and a beautiful flower covered Haku Lei on top of its head. In all, its appearance seemed rather… humanoid compared to most Heartless.

"What is going on? Is that a Heartless?" Shang asked above the crowd's screaming and hastiness in retreat.

"No, it's come to congratulate you two on your engagement," Sora said sarcastically, "Yes it's a Heartless. Anyway, you two are in no condition to fight. Let me and Luna handle this."

"You sure Sora?" Mulan asked worriedly.

"Don't worry, I'll support him. Just like old times huh Sora?" Mushu said jumping out of the golden statue's mouth.

"Yep, just like old times dragon of unity." Sora remarked before turning back to the Heartless. Luna also summoned her Keyblade examining the Heartless closely. The Heartless looked around for a second before it disappeared from its location.

"What?" Sora said looking around for it.

Mushu looked around to and eventually found it, "Above!" He pointed into the sky where the Heartless had raised its hand. Balls crackling with dark electricity was shot out of her palm and headed straight for the group.

"Reflect." Sora jumped up and created a barrier around him to knock the shadow balls away. The shield was weak however, and each shadow ball which hit the barrier left a crack in it until the reflect spell shattered and Sora was hit with one of the attacks.

"Sora, are you alright?" Luna asked rapidly.

"Yeah. Mulan, Shang, you guys need to get going, we'll meet you outside the city." Sora said getting up from the attack. Mulan and Shang nodded and head down the stairs to where most of the population had already deserted. Sora looked up at it and finally came up with a name for the Heartless: Elegant Magus. The Heartless teleported close up to them and shone a bright yellow as if it was charging up for something.

"Quick, get away from it." Luna told him and picked up Mushu before running down the stairs in to the big open area. Sora zoomed ahead of them in a silly manner just in time as the Heartless expelled the energy it had stored. It didn't seem to do much to the environment but none of them wanted to know what would have happened if they had been caught in the dispersed shockwave. The Magus materialized next to them and tried to attack physically, however Sora and Luna anticipated its movement and dodged without effort.

"It seems rather slow when physically attacking don't you think?" Luna discussed.

"Yeah, seems that way. That's good to know, if it ever tries that again anyway." Sora replied as he parried as a blizzard shard summoned by the Magus confirming the appropriate name.

"Mushu, fireballs please." Sora said as the Magus disappeared and reappeared behind him. He dodge rolled out of the way and watched as Mushu spat a fireball into the air before throwing his Keyblade at it. The Kingdom Key lit up on fire as he combined the fire with circle raid, striking the Magus several times. Luna followed suit combing her strike raid with Mushu's fire to hit the Heartless as well. The Magus dematerialized away and for whatever reason did not appear again.  
"Where is it?" Mushu asked.

"Just keep your guard up." Jiminy shouted from Sora's hood. They looked around frantically but there was still no sign of the Heartless, was it playing with them?

"Maybe it's gone." Luna wanted to believe what she was saying but she was soon proven wrong as she felt herself unable to move. Looking down she noticed hands which seemed to come out of the ground grabbing on to her legs and holding her in place. Pointing her Keyblade down she used fire magic just managing to scrape the Heartless' hand and causing it to let go. Sora turned to her after he heard her cast the magic and looked past her, his eyes widened.

"Luna, get out of the way!" Sora yelled. Luna turned around to where Sora was looking and her lips parted slightly as the Magus had materialized behind her. Before she could get out of the way, the Magus had already charged the attack that it had done earlier and quickly released the shockwave. Luna was caught directly was blasted away onto the ground quite a ways off, her Keyblade landing even further away from her location before disappearing in a flash of light.

Sora and Mushu, who had been in the outer shell of the radius blast, were pushed back several feet with Sora eventually tripping over himself.

"Hngh, Luna? Luna, are you alright?" Sora asked as he got up and brushed himself off.

"I- I think, hurts like hell though." Luna told him in between gasps as she tried to get up but failed. Her lungs felt as if they were on fire.

"Don't strain yourself, I'll come over. Mushu, you think you can stall him for a while?" Sora asked pulling out a Hi-potion given to him by Kupopo.

"No problem, just leave it to me." Mushu said. The Magus moved in slowly, its yellow eyes focused only on Sora.

Sora stayed in place and waited, "Wait for it, wait for it… Mushu, now!"

"Time for the mighty dragon to shed some light." Mushu jumped up in front of Sora's face and spit fireball after fireball at the Heartless. This caused it to raise its arms up in defence and swat at the air possibly hoping to catch Mushu, but the dragon was fast and slipped side to side before continuing his onslaught. Sora ran towards Luna and offered her the potion. Luna weakly reached for it while her other hands clutched her ribcage. Taking the potion, she downed the contents greedily; her need for the potion was so great that some of the liquid escaped from her mouth and dribbled down her chin. The pain slowly resided and she son found herself able to breathe again. She coughed a bit before wiping the liquid away from her chin.

"Thanks, I really needed that." Luna told him as she lifted herself up.

"You can thank Kupopo when you see him," Sora said, "Now let's go help Mushu out before he gets too cocky." Sora and Luna looked up and Mushu who was doing an excellent job at firing direct hits at the Magus. Luna summoned her Keyblade again and together the two raced for the Heartless boss. Sora and Luna soon reached it and began their offensive along with Mushu using a combination of ground and air combos to push the Elegant Magus back. The Magus took a swipe again but it was slow enough that Luna could guard the attack knocking the tall Heartless back and allowing Sora to use stun impact to disable the Heartless temporarily. While it was not as tall, Sora could relate it a lot to the trick master he had once fought in Wonderland which in terms of physical attacks, its moves were predictable enough for Sora to roll out of the way. With this Heartless, its arms were shorter which made it harder to hit anything as long as Sora and the other stayed on the ground. The Heartless had soon found enough space to teleport and reappeared far away from them beginning to throw more shadow balls at them. Luna ran up to the Heartless, knocking the shadow balls away with her Keyblade. She dodged the last one and heard a blast behind her but she didn't turn back. Instead she jumped and moved her hand to her keychain before performing a Chain Rave.

Just before the attack was about to hit the Heartless however, she saw something in its yellow eyes. Where are Heartless usually felt more cold and lifeless, this felt different. It was a mixture, of compassion, kindness and beauty, but at the same time it was sad, lonely and morose. As far as she knew these were traits no Heartless displayed. And then she saw it. For a split second Luna had imagined a girl, probably no older than Palom and Porom's age. She was looking back at Luna, and there were tears coming out of her eyes. She had felt something like this somewhere before… She tried to stop the Chain Rave, but it was too late. The attack went right through the Heartless and there was a wail of pain heard behind her as she landed on the other side. Why was the Heartless showing pain? It didn't have any emotions.

_Stop it, please. Just stop it. _Luna insisted though the words never came out, only kept safe inside her own mind. The Heartless' scream was halted as it toppled to the ground before disappearing, a heart floating into the sky before turning into a Keyhole.

Sora also couldn't believe what he had just heard and while he had not seen what Luna had, the remnants of a little girl's scream was etched into his mind.

"Oh yeah, we took care of that Heartless. Doing it Mushu style." Mushu exclaimed as he high fived Cri-Kee. Sora didn't respond, rather he looked over at Luna and she looked back. They seemed to be communicating through eye sight alone. When Sora looked at the Keyhole and then nodded at Luna, she seemed to understand what he meant. It was her first time and she wasn't sure how to approach it but regardless she mimicked Sora's movements back in the Estate of the Dalmatians. She raised her Keyblade into the air and a bright beam of light emitted out of the Keyblade and hit the Keyhole dead centre. A lock was soon heard before the Keyhole disappeared like sand.

"Sora, you guys were great." Mulan called as her and Shang ran up to them from the front entrance.

"Mulan, I thought I told you to go?" Sora asked.

"Friends don't leave each other behind, right? We have to support each other even in the worst of times." Mulan told him.

"Yeah, you're right. Thanks Mulan and Shang. So, I guess you guys are getting married now then?" Sora asked.

"Of course, you are still coming right?" Shang asked.

"Hmm, can't say I'm sure. I may need a little convincing." Sora grinned placing his hands in his pockets.

"Okay, yes we'll throw you the bouquet and then you and Luna can get married next, how's that sound?" Shang joked.

"That wasn't funny. But we'll come anyway, no strings attached and all." Sora said.

"What about the other lock for the gateway?" Luna asked though she was hardly happy compared to Sora. What she had seen had laid a sour taste in her mouth.

"Oh, I unlocked that the last time I was here. Should be smooth sailing, well, Heartless and giant rocks excluded." Sora told her. When he looked at her and saw her staid expression, his own excitement immediately quietened down. He didn't think hearing the Heartless scream would have had this much of an impact on her, though he had to admit, it was certainly strange. Luna wasn't the only one in another world as Mushu was also thinking about his soon to be last days with Mulan.

"So is Prince Jeeki…"

"Yeah, I feel sorry for him. And his family. Why did the Heartless possess his body though? And how?" Sora wondered to himself.

Shang was clearly seeing that the day's events were beginning to get them all down, "Well, why don't we head back to Mulan's home. We can get married there, and we'll invite the princesses and the emperor as well. Let's talk to Lord Qin first though."

Sora and Luna nodded unconsciously and they all headed for the door of the palace, not noticing the man in the black coat who was watching them from the balcony above.

* * *

Three days had passed since the wedding of Mulan and Shang, and Mushu had dragged his suitcase into the Fa ancestor's temple reluctantly prepared to go back to his previous job. Cri-Kee had opted to join him in going and visit him every once in a while. Though Mushu wasn't happy about becoming a slave to the ancestors once again, he had realised he had done the right thing in keeping Mulan and Shang together. As long as Mulan was happy, he would be… okay, maybe that last part wasn't so right.

"Time to scrub my foot now Mushu." The ancestor great grandmother said pushing her foot into Mushu's face. The rest of the ancestors laughed at him before more came to ridicule him.

"Ready to sing 'It's a small world after all'?" The elderly blind ancestor asked.

"No, please anything but that song." Mushu pleaded clasping his hand together.

"Oh, but you didn't seem to have any problem listening to it before."

"Yeah, that was because it was you singing it you crazy old man."

Jibes were thrown back and forth between Mushu and the ancestors before they all quietened as two people entered the temple.

"What are you doing Shang?" Mulan asked curiously.

"Just watch." Shang said placing a stone tablet that he had in his hand next to another tablet in the chamber.

"No! He's merging the houses." The head ancestor said in shock.

"Uh huh, yeah, and what exactly does this mean, you know, for me?" Mushu inquired.

"It means…"

"Uh-huh?"

"It means…"

"Spit it out already, I'm listenin'."

"Unfortunately, it means you get to keep your pedestal." The head managed to say through much pain.

"Oh yeah baby, I'm back!" Mushu said jumping across the room hyperactively and eventually falling down below where Mulan and Shang were.

"Oh hello Mushu, still I don't get what exactly joining the family houses will do." Mulan said.

"It means I get to keep my pedestal." Mushu repeated the head's words in joy.

"Ah, but are you sure you can do that Shang? Aren't their rules?" Mulan asked.

"Of course, right next to the rules about dressing up as a man and joining the army." Shang answered and the three shared a laugh together.

_Sora, Luna. I hope you guys are doing okay out there. _Mulan thought as she looked up above to the ceiling of the old family building. _Other worlds, huh?_

* * *

**Didn't write an opening A/N since I wanted you guys to jump right into the chapter. Anyway, now that that long chapter is done, I need to ask why Chain Rave isn't in KH3D. For those that don't know that move appears in Re:Coded and the name was pretty awesome, then they changed it to Prism Windmill, not that I have problems with that. In fact, I may just have Sora use the windmill attacks and Luna the Rave but I still thought the name was pretty awesome.**

**Anyway, since a lot of things have happened in the story up to this point I think it best if a summary was put on my profile showing key events that have happened so far in the story. I think it would be a good idea so I'll get to work on that after this is uploaded. Next up is Olympus Coliseum, yes! Don't worry, half of it won't even take place in the Coliseum anyway so you're safe. Until next time, see you then. **


	35. From Olympus with Love

Chapter 35

From Olympus with Love

"It looks like your plan failed huh Maleficent? We'll always be one step ahead of you." A confident Mickey echoed from the mirror he was being encased in as prisoner. He was surrounded by nothing but pitch black darkness and somehow he had managed to survive for these past weeks through sheer determination and the few scraps of bread and water they threw at him through the enchanted mirror. It was strange, he thought, that they could come in easily but he could not get out though he eventually limited it down to the fact there was a magic barrier or an invisible veil which could only be seen from the outside.

The next thing he could probably assume was that he was in a different plane of existence from the evil fairy currently looking down on him. That had stemmed from his belief that his emotions felt a lot more artificial and enhanced than they should have been. He was in conflict between calmness and patience, for he knew his friends were looking for him right now, and anger and enmity for Maleficent and how she had thought of attacking his home while it was most vulnerable. Thankfully, the plan had failed but it had left a bitter taste of resentment at his core and he didn't know why it had troubled him so much. The only thing he could suggest was this realm's properties were similar to the realm of darkness in which you were likely to have different thoughts and feelings than normal if you stayed there longer.

Mickey didn't want to test this theory out however. It was too risky and he couldn't lose to Maleficent in any way possible. The best tactic, he figured, was too show no emotion whatsoever and act as if he had everything under control, and so to reflect this, he sat in the same meditative position his master, Yen Sid, would usually do during their training. While Mickey had never been fond of sitting still and never had really tried to meditate, this time couldn't have been more important for him to do so. Yet even that was still a challenge to accomplish when Mickey often felt the insatiable urge to shout at the top of his lungs in a desperate plea to get out. He sometimes often felt he was choking and that there was a ridiculous lack of oxygen that was present in the darkness around him. Was Maleficent's plan to render him useless as both a Keyblade Master and a normal puppet? It was very possible. In fact, Mickey had sometimes imagined himself in a vegetative state for whatever reason. It was once again an artificial thought, almost as if someone had planted the idea in his head.

"The capture of Disney Castle was simply only an expansion of my forces my dear King. It has nothing to do with my plan and is but a mere set back," Maleficent smile became twisted, "And besides, how did you take to the fact that I could have possibly taken your castle at any moment?"

_Just as I thought, _Mickey smirked. _She wants me to show fear. Well I won't let her indulge in that pleasure._

Mickey chose his words with caution, "Well Maleficent, I'm not worried at all. I know that as long as my friends, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald and Goofy are there to protect the worlds, then nothing or no one will fall to you and your antics."

Maleficent simply looked down and laughed, "Isn't that interesting? The King has some fight in him yet. Well, I do understand that as long as your little Keyblade lackeys are strutting behind in your footsteps, you won't feel alone," Maleficent continued while stroking Diablo who had been perched on her shoulder, "Let me tell you a secret your majesty. Ten years ago, a world brimming with light was taken by the darkness with me as its ruler, perhaps you know of the world I speak of? The capital of light it was referred as among Keyblade wielders wasn't it?"

"Yes, what's your point Maleficent?" Mickey asked remembering the Radiant Garden of years past.

"I took over it and made it a glorious capital of darkness. Now, even though I am not in control as I once was, that world is a mere shell of its former self. This is because I destroyed it from it foundations and worked upwards. It will never be what it once was because the Heartless will never allow it. And now ten years have passed, and this castle you stand in is now that of a different world. Its people thought it could escape the flood of darkness but they were surely wrong and now this is the home of the Heartless. They travel from the dark realm seeking their 'holy land' as it were and now they have found it. A piece of the dark realm residing inside a realm filled with light is what this place now is." Maleficent finished.

"You still don't listen Maleficent, that's your problem. The Heartless will devour your heart eventually. They have no need for you and they work on instinct. Don't allow yourself to become a pawn of the Heartless!" Mickey exclaimed frustratingly.

"You underestimate my powers once again. Let me make this clear, the Heartless have no control whatsoever on me." Maleficent said, her calmness made Mickey slightly uneasy. Was she that sure she had the advantage?

"Maleficent, you once tried to take over the data worlds and bring all the Heartless from there into the real world. That plan failed. What makes you think you'll be so successful this time?" Mickey asked.

Maleficent reached forward slowly and gave the mirror a slight push with her finger. Mickey felt the ground beneath him shake and tip and suddenly he rolled backwards due to lack of balance eventually landing on his stomach.

"What's to say I failed? On the contrary, it's quite the opposite of that." Maleficent laughed evilly before walking away leaving a bewildered Mickey to pick himself up.

"Hey Maleficent, whaddya mean? Maleficent!" Mickey called but no response came from the fairy. Mickey sighed and sat back down in his previous position in order to contemplate what Maleficent had been talking about.

"Are we really gonna keep the little pipsqueak around the whole time? Not that I have any problem taking the Mickey out of him, heh, get it? Anyways, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Hades asked as Maleficent walked slowly into the meeting room. He had been called there by Maleficent just before she had gone to visit the King.

"It seems like it's time for you to finally take your brother's place as ruler." Maleficent told him.

"Finally! So does that mean I get command of the Heartle- Wait a second, you never told me what was in it for you." Hades said suspiciously.

"Does it have to be about me? Can it not be that I would like to look out for my fellow companions?" Maleficent asked in a concerned manner, though every time she did this it usually came out as creepy and unusual. This time was no exception.

"Yeah, that's not suspicious at all," Hades spat before composing himself, "but who am I to talk about suspicious? I wouldn't be surprised if you did have some ulterior motive and I can't blame you. As long as it doesn't come in the way of me, myself and I. So why now exactly, I thought you were gonna keep me around for insurance?"

Maleficent gave him a knowing smile, "Have you heard of the seer of the seas by chance?"

* * *

The stars and eternal sea of the sky were met once again by Luna's gaze for what she presumed to be the thousandth time since she had started journeying on the Highwind. She never had gotten used to it and there was always something more to see even if it took a little time to find it. This time she had preoccupied herself with counting the stars the ship had flown past though it was simply impossible to keep track of. She had fun however. That was the most important part because it took her mind of the terrible dream she had just experienced. Waking up with a gasp, Luna had tried to get back to sleep but after several attempts had given up and instead resorted to making a light snack before coming over to the cockpit.

Thoughts ran through her mind like water rushing through a broken dam. She barely had any time to collect them and sort the thoughts out, in fact, she was hardly trying. She had considered going to Sora's room but she didn't want to disturb him from his peaceful slumber. Jiminy and Kupopo were also options she had considered but were also sleeping with possibly no worries attached. Luna nibbled on the corner of her sandwich as she contemplated, or at least tried to, the meaning of her dream.

It had definitely been the same little girl she had thought she had briefly seen when she had fought the Elegant Magus, and that was enough to haunt her. She knew it was impossible for her to have actually seen a human face on a Heartless and so she concluded that it must have been her imagination. She had been the only one to have noticed it as well because when she had asked Sora when they had left the Land of Dragons a day ago, he replied with a no. So in order to convince herself that she wasn't going loony, she had to believe that it had been her imagination, except even that was a stretch.

A past encounter with another certain Heartless in Traverse Town had reminded Luna that it may not have been her imagination running wild after all. Could two similar incidents really be considered as just a coincidence? While she hadn't seen a face for the Leaper Creeper, she had seen a tear fall down its Heartless face before it vanished. Besides, even Sora couldn't possibly delude himself into believing that the sound he had heard from the Magus wasn't human. That was really her only evidence to suggest that she wasn't going insane and for that she could breathe a sigh of relief.

"Still up?" A male voice called behind her; of course it could have only been Sora, "Something bothering you?"

Luna gave a soft chuckle, "I was just thinking about that day. I had a bad dream so I came here. Why are you up Sora?"

"Because I sensed that you were having some worries and came here. I have those kind of powers." Sora joked.

"Right, that's why it took you so long to come to my aid." Luna nodded as she turned around to face him and leaned against the console panel.

"It takes a while for my powers to kick in. No, I actually came here because I couldn't get any sleep either." Sora confirmed Luna's suspicions. Sora had been unusually quiet as of late and she couldn't understand why.

"That makes both of us then." Luna smirked as she tapped the console panel with her fingers in a rhythm of two.

"So, what was your dream about?" Sora asked as he looked over the control panel at the display screen. It currently showed that they were well on their way to Olympus Coliseum and would probably reach there by noon tomorrow. The time was actually programmed to be in Disney Town's time zone however it did change to conform to the standard time of the world they were entering when it reached a certain point.

"It's about that girl I told you about. The one I briefly saw when I was fighting the Magus," Luna explained, "She was looking at me and she had tears in her eyes. Then she… smiled. It wasn't creepy or anything like that but it was almost as if she was happy. I don't know, whatever it was it did a good job of creeping me out. You do believe I saw what I saw that day, right Sora?"

Sora hesitated while scratching his head, "Uh, there's no reason to believe you didn't so of course I believe you. I've seen things before that others haven't as well." He certainly remembered his encounter with Roxas at Memory's Skyscraper as one of these times.

"Wonderful. It's still kind of weird that only I could see it. Maybe it was because I was so close when it happened that you weren't able to see it? Or maybe…" Luna theorized seeming to fall into a dreamy state.

"Uh, earth to Luna, still here ya know. Anyway, I bet you can't wait to start your training huh? We're close." Sora announced rapidly touching the display screen with his index finger.

"Oh, right. Yeah, I definitely can't wait. So why couldn't you sleep Sora? Also had a bad dream?" Luna said snapping out of her thoughtful trance.

"Something like that. It was my islands being destroyed again." That was all Sora said, though he intentionally left out the part of the dream where Riku and Kairi had both been lying on the ground in a motionless state and the man in the black coat who had been standing over them.

"Sora, I'm so sorry about your islands." Luna said.

"There's no need for you to be sorry," Sora replied quickly, "In the end it was only one person's fault, that guy in the black coat. I had the chance to finish it back at the emperor's palace and I messed up. I won't make that same mistake again."

Luna looked from the ground over to him, "You're not going to seek revenge are you?"

"No, it isn't as simple as that. He probably was also the one who kidnapped the King and I have a whole bunch of questions to ask him anyway." Sora answered though he wasn't really sure if when the time came, he wouldn't be fuelled by revenge.

"Well when the time comes, I'll be right beside you. I need to find out about his involvement in the Reapers' Game." Luna said.

"Oh yeah, you're still a part of that aren't you. What did Merlin say? That the rules of one world don't apply in another? So then-"

"Yeah, I'm still a player, just not right now." Luna finished his sentence. She still kept close the promise she had made to Shiki and the others that she would return and save them once she had gotten stronger. Now she was more determined than ever to begin her training in Olympus Coliseum.

Suddenly static was heard coming from the radio until it was replaced by a familiar voice.

"Sora, are you guys there?" Chip, Sora thought, said over the communicator.

"Chip, is that you? I haven't heard from you guys in a while. Where have you been?" Sora asked as Luna walked over and stood beside him.

"We've been at the castle the whole time. It's something on your end, and I think we've figured out what it is." Chip said. What followed were two chipmunks arguing over the microphone before one of them took over. It was Dale.

"You remember that background radiation in the worlds that we were talking about after you left Disney Castle? It has to with that. Essentially, that radiation is interfering with our communication devices. It's called electromagnetic jamming. In computer talk, think of it as a firewall which interferes and prevents threats from reaching their destination." Dale explained.

"Okay, how about in non-computer terms?" Sora asked not understanding the firewall thing.

"It's okay, I think I get it roughly. It's like those barriers we have to unlock to get to other worlds with our Keyblades right? Just less solid and more like gas then." Luna summarised.

"Yep, that's exactly it. The only reason we've been able to get to you this time is probably because the interference where you are is weak but I'm sure you can hear static," Just as Dale had said Sora and Luna could hear a low but audible scratchy noise coming from the speaker, "that probably has to do with the background radiation in our world. We might not be able to contact you guys for good, which also bring up another problem."

"Give me your best shot, I can handle it." Sora said.

Chip started to talk, "You see that screen displaying the world map and what not? Well since the Highwind receives data from our computers, when the background radiation blocks of our world-"

"We won't receive data from your computer and that means we won't have a map." Luna finished for him.

"Wait, are you serious? Then how are we supposed to get back to Radiant Garden if we don't have the map?" Sora shouted into the intercom.

"Calm down Sora. We're looking into it as much as we can but we still don't have an exact idea of the effects of this radiation. I'm predicting that we still have some time until our world is engulfed in the radiation. How long until you get to your next world?" Chip asked.

"It says we'll arrive around noon." Sora looked over at the world map screen again to make sure he was right.

"Then once you get to the next world, set the autopilot's destination to Radiant Garden when the ship's off. That way, even if the computer screen is gone the autopilot is separate, so it will still take you to the destination that it was previously instructed to do. That next stop is probably gonna be your last before you head back since we need to figure out a few things." Chip told them.

Dale soon intervened, "We don't even know if it's dangerous so it's better to be safer than sorry."

"We understand, thanks for the help guys." Luna told them.

"Over and out, happy flying!" Chip and Dale exclaimed before more static took over and then finally the speaker went silent. Both Sora and Luna remained in silence for a while as they considered what this meant. As long as they did what Chip and Dale had told them to do it could still turn out fine but they wondered what it meant for future exploration.

After a while Sora finally yawned and spoke, "No use thinking about it while I'm tired, I'm heading back to bed to see if I can get over that stupid dream. You might want to do the same," Sora stretched and walked towards the hallway though he soon stopped and turned around, "Oh, and nice drawings in the journal by the way."

"Wait, you looked in the- Oh come on, they're just cartoons!" Luna exclaimed at Sora's sarcastic approach to her bad drawing skills. He laughed and walked off bidding her a goodnight in the process. Luna bit her lip for a second before smiling as she reached into her pocket to search for the journal.

_Of course, _Luna smiled as she found nothing there, _Sora, you sneaky boy. _

* * *

There was little discrimination to those who walked under the warmth of the sun as its rays hit down on the enthusiastic Sora and Luna while they were exploring the town of Thebes. The two had made sure like Chip had instructed them to place the Highwind on auto-pilot setting a course to Radiant Garden but for now, there was fun to be had in the sun. Sora had never been here before and so was trying his best to navigate his way through the crowded market place. Luna was dazzled by the aesthetics of ancient Greek architecture and was constantly comparing it to the other places she had been so far. There was a certain magic about this place that was indescribable though it could also be said that that was the same in other worlds.

Sora and Luna examined the many black-figure pottery designs on view as they passed by the store which sold them.

"These look like they would be pretty expensive, how much do you think they cost?" Luna asked as she traced a finger around on the designs with a man holding a spear at another.

"You're actually thinking about buying this aren't you?" Sora folded his arms. He seemed more enthusiastic to talk than he had been the past few days. Maybe it was because Luna herself was happy at the moment that he had taken to being more positive, or perhaps it was because he felt that he had to in order to make her happy. Either way, Luna didn't want to make it seem like he had to for her own sake.

"If the cost meets my eye then why not," Luna pointed to her left eye and winked, "I mean come on. I've always said that Gummi Ship needed decorations and this would be perfect."

"Yes, one piece of clay that can easily break. The perfect decoration, well you've got me." Sora shrugged in a sarcastic manner.

"Oh come on, it'll only break if you don't take care of it. Hello, sir. How much does this cost?" Luna asked pointing to the one she had touched.

"10,000 munny." The potter answered. He made no gesture of surprise when the two teens jumped.

"10,000? I don't have that kind of munny, do you Luna?"

"Why are you asking me? I'm flat out broke," Luna placed her hands on her denim skirt pockets, "well thanks anyway." She said as they hurried on.

"Okay, I have to admit, I'm actually pretty lost." Sora said as he searched around for a guide. The problem was, with so many people out and about he couldn't even begin to tell what a guide would look like.

"I thought you said you've been here before." Luna wondered though it seemed to matter to her little as her eyes widened at the magnificent stone-cut buildings in front of her. As they were bigger than the rest of the buildings, she assumed they were of more importance.

"Well, I haven't been here. Just the coliseum, which I can't find. And Donald was the one who usually teleported us there anyway." Sora complimented the duck for his excellent navigation skills, it was one of the only times he could do so with a straight face.

"So Donald's better than you at this magic stuff then?" Luna asked.

"Wha- psh, no way! There may have been a point in time when he was better but now? Ha!" Sora said a little too loudly.

"Okay Sora, no need to get so defensive over it. Why don't we just ask someone, it doesn't have to be a guide does it?" Luna asked.

"But I need a map and everyone knows the best places to get a map are from guides." Sora told her.

"How about a cartographer," Luna suggested pointing towards the moogle floating next to one of the large buildings with a bunch of maps sitting in front of it, "I think that would be the best place to get a map, don't you?"

"Uh, yeah, that as well," Sora nodded coolly. The two walked over to the moogle and looked down at the maps. There seemed to be quite a lot of maps showing different regions of the world, "You don't happen to have a map which tells us where the coliseum is do you?"

"Of course, it is a tourist attraction after all; it would be silly if we didn't have it. One moment," The moogle moved its eyes thoroughly as it searched each map, "there you go, that one. That'll be 50 munny."

"Now that, I can pay." Sora said fishing out the correct amount from his pocket. He handed the munny to the moogle before taking the map and looking at it with Luna. Jiminy had also popped out to take a look.

"Well it looks like we need to head north then at the fork take a west until we're get to the sea port, then we head north from there." Jiminy analysed.

"Great, think you can remember that Jiminy? I'll leave it to you to direct us." Sora said as Jiminy hopped onto his shoulder.

"Of course I can. I'll be your guide for the day." The cricket said and with that they set off down the busy street. As they walked down, Sora and Luna's strange clothing certainly attracted some attention, especially with the soldiers who seemed to be staring at Luna's exposed legs. She suddenly felt like running but shook her head at such a silly thought and continued on while keeping her focus on the ground instead.

Once they had turned left after coming to the fork in the street, a strange thing occurred. Luna felt herself collide with someone and was knocked onto the floor.

_Now where has this happened before? _Luna said shaking her head and opening her eyes slowly. Of course, it had been largely similar to what had happened when she had first met Shiki, but the person standing in front of her wasn't Shiki, it was another girl. Someone who seemed strangely familiar to her.

"Luna? You're Luna aren't you?" The girl's quiet voice seemed to translate into alien to Luna's ears, "Then does that mean…"

"Wait, how do you know her? Is she a friend?" Sora asked.

"Sora! You must be Sora, right?" The girl ignored his previous question.

Sora and Luna looked at each other slowly before turning back, "WHAT?!" They yelled together.

"Please… don't shout. Everyone's looking," The girl told them. She was right. Everyone had turned from their activities to stare at the three, though personally Luna was more concerned with why the girl knew her and Sora in the first place.

"So who are you exactly? Have you seen here anywhere Sora?" Luna asked as she got up and helped the girl up as well. Looking at her closely, she felt she had definitely seen the girl somewhere before, with her long coral dark blue hair and a lean petite frame. That was when Luna finally remembered, she resembled the girl that the other girl Namine had drawn in one of her dreams. Her clothes, Luna did not remember so much due to having focused more on Namine at the time but the girl in front of her was wearing a white halter top and a purple skirt.

Just as the girl was about to introduce herself, Shadow Heartless appeared all around them causing the passers-by to shriek and yell in terror before dispersing from the area.

"Oh no, they're back." The girl whispered in terror before running off in the direction Sora and Luna had come from.

"Wait up!" Luna tried to shout but it was useless, she was already gone.

"Forget that right now; let's just deal with these Heartless." Sora summoned the Kingdom Key and charged in taking out the Shadows. Luna looked back and forth, here she may have finally found a clue, someone who knew her name but now she had to deal with annoying Heartless. She sighed and summoned her Keyblade before jumping in. The two were easily able to dispose of the Shadows despite their seemingly large number.

"Okay, that should be the last of them." Sora said as he swung his Keyblade horizontally to take care of the last Heartless.

"What about that girl Sora?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, we need to try and find her, it's not like we're in any rush to hurry to the coliseum." Sora said.

"I agree, I'm rather curious to know how she knows you two." Jiminy's voice echoed all of their thoughts. Holding hands so as to not get lost from each other, Sora and Luna jogged down the crowded street where they came from keeping their eye out for a girl with blur coral hair, an unusual trait for a person in this city it seemed, but it certainly didn't help to find her especially when the crowd was quite large and she was rather short. Asking around had mixed results, with some saying they had but then giving conflicting directions while others had not seen her at all.

They had gone down several streets and still had found no sign of her. Sora and Luna were beginning to get worried that if they continued on, they would eventually find themselves lost within the big city.

"Oh well, at least we tried. And who knows, if we're lucky we might run into her again." Luna crossed her index and middle fingers in hope.

"Yeah, for now let's head to coliseum." Sora said. They turned on their heels and headed back in the direction that they had come from. With the help of the map and Jiminy's memory, they had soon arrived back to where they had first met the girl and then continued on from there. They travelled down what was a rather cluttered and narrow road lending to high humidity and making Sora want to get out of their fast.

Continuing on, Sora and Luna soon came across another problem, "The Leviathan's attacking! Everyone stay clear of the port!" A man yelled repeatedly as he ran past them. This seemed to have the desired response, with people immediately stopping what they had been doing.

"Oh not again." Sora said in fatigue as he held onto Luna's hand and pushed past the numerous amounts of people running towards them, or rather, away from the sea.

"What was it he said? A Leviathan? A monster maybe? Maybe we should try and find another way around." Luna suggested.

Sora smirked, "Come on, don't you want to see what they're on about?"

"Not really, no," Luna answered Sora's question, "but I have a feeling I'm going to have to see it eventually so why not."

"That's the spirit. Hey, I think we're almost there." Sora said. The two pressed on for another minute until they were at the port the man had been talking about, and there it was. A gargantuan serpent-like figure in the sea, with its seaweed green scaly skin and around the same height as the largest building that Sora and Luna had seen but even that was an uncertainty for some of its body appeared to be underwater.

"Whoa, now that's a beauty." Sora complimented marvelling at the magnificent scale and dominance the sea serpent seemed to possess.

"I can't believe you're calling it a beauty. Do we have to fight this thing?" Luna asked blinking rapidly.

"Of course. What's life without a giant snake?" Sora grinned while getting ready.

"A life where I don't die young maybe?" Luna murmured with uncertainty before summoning Dream Seeker.

The Leviathan soon spotted them below it and sprayed a thick layer of ice at them from its mouth. Sora and Luna split off in different directions trying to get away from the ice in time though the ice followed quickly eventually causing Sora to slide and fall on his stomach. Luna had managed to make it out but didn't have any time to rest as a beam of ice followed blowing and smashing through the blanket of ice while heading for her. Luna pressed herself against the building and waited as the ice beam narrowly missed her. Looking down she saw spiky and dangerous shards of ice at her feet.

After several more slips, Sora had finally gotten himself onto his feet. Using fire, a ring of flames appeared around him which he used to melt the ice around him. The Leviathan had turned around and now had stretched its long neck out trying to bite at Sora who had to constantly dodge the sea creature's bite by flipping, dodge rolling and sliding under its head while at the same time trying to keep the offensive and get off hits.

Luna created a path through by shooting fire projectiles at the ice, having to cover her face for a while so as to not get hurt in the process. Luna eventually reached its long neck and sliced at it. While it didn't cut through the neck as intended, the Leviathan obviously felt the effects as it roared in pain before retracting its neck half way and then attacking erratically from there trying to hit both Sora and Luna.

"Okay, it's trying to attack us both. I'll attack him from this side and you from that side." Sora proposed while he outstretched him arms and moved them in a circular motion.

Luna nodded as she parried a bite from the Leviathan, it had knocked her back but the recoil had stunned the Leviathan allowing Luna and Sora to hit it with multiple fire spells. The creature eventually shook out of its stupor and backed away before doing something completely different. It sunk back into the sea.

"Huh, given up already?" Sora laughed spinning his Keyblade in the air.

"I really doubt that." Luna said. The two did not have to wait long before it resurfaced, and it had brought something along with it. A giant tidal wave was approaching them from the distance with ridiculous speed. The speed of this wave was so unusual, that before Sora and Luna had the chance to properly react to the wave, they were both hit by it and knocked backwards against their will. Sora ended up hitting a building wall and Luna had crashed into a one of the shops nearby. Luna coughed as she tried to get the taste of sea water out of her mouth. She got up slowly and clumsily, her brain not seeming to work properly at the moment causing her to stumble drunkenly into a shelf while trying to catch her breath.

Sora sat lopsided against the wall and groaned as he felt a pain at the front of his head. He also coughed back up some of the water that had entered his mouth before trying to get back up. It was a matter of exhorting pressure on himself because his body simply didn't want to move at the moment. He reluctantly decided not to listen to his body and used the wall as support to help his body to stand. His knees felt weak as if they were about to collapse under his own weight though Sora simply just leaned against the wall while taking pulling out a potion and drinking it all down.

"Need some help Sora?"

Sora looked up. He knew that voice from anywhere, "Herc!"

The muscle bound hero currently had the Leviathan's head in a grapple while grinning at Sora.

"Do you even have to ask?" Sora asked detaching himself from the wall now feeling much better than before though he still felt an annoying pain in his head. Sora held up his hand until the Kingdom Key appeared. The Leviathan opened its mouth possibly to use another ice beam but Hercules wasn't about to let the creature execute the attack. Letting go, Hercules punched diagonally, hitting the creature's jaw and knocking it backwards with full force.

Luna jumped out of the shop window after having used a potion and looked around. Seeing Sora and Hercules, she made a quick run for them.

"Someone you know Sora?" Hercules asked as Luna approached them.

"Yeah, this is Luna, she also has a Keyblade. And Luna, this is Hercules." Sora introduced.

"Nice to meet you Hercules, so you're a hero huh?" Luna asked.

"Anyone can be a hero. It's just a matter of proving yourself first. And right now, we need to start by getting rid of this thing." Hercules said. The three got into their battle stances as the Leviathan straightened up and prepared to attack once more.

* * *

**Another long chapter completed with a lot of important developments fitted into 10 pages. I wanted to add more but I thought it would be too much so you're going to have to settle for a cliffhanger until the next chapter comes out. So next time Sora, Luna and Herc take on the Leviathan and Luna finally begins her training at the coliseum. **


	36. Road to the Hercules Cup

Chapter 36

Road to the Hercules Cup

What happened next was an exchange of combos, dodges and attacks as the trio and the Leviathan both tried to inflict the finishing blow. Of course with it being three against one, Sora, Luna and Hercules had a large advantage over their opponent and while the Leviathan tried to focus on one of them, their distance allowed for the other two to intercept its attacks and distract the creature. The Leviathan shot an ice beam backwards and forwards across the street in an attempt to prevent the trio from having the capability to move around. Hercules smashed his way through the ice shards while Sora and Luna slashed their way through being careful to avoid the sharp spikes of ice on the ground. The path soon opened up and they both raced in together to attack the beast.

The sounds of the Kingdom Key and Dream Seeker heating against the Leviathan's flesh seemed an almost melancholic rhythm. They seemed more synchronised and concentrated than ever before seeming to unite for the purpose of one common goal. Meanwhile, Hercules continued to hold the Leviathan at bay whenever Sora and Luna had halted their attacks in an attempt to regain stamina. The collaborated effort soon became too much for the Leviathan to handle and it backed away in a dazed state seeming unable to interpret much of what was going on around it anymore.

"Sora, let's finish this." Hercules said holding out his hand. Sora seemed confused by this sudden gesture but decided to walk towards him anyway; it wasn't as if he had any reason not to trust him. As soon as he grabbed Herc's hand, Sora soon realised what the former was getting out. The older man spun him around and eventually flung Sora at the Leviathan. Sora wasn't one to complain, holding on to the Keyblade with both hands tightly as he was propelled forwards into the sky. Reaching the Leviathan at last, Sora aligned the back of the Kingdom Key with the head of the creature and alternated between cutting horizontally and vertically at a rapid pace.

Sora's flurry of attacks ended up precipitating what was to be the monster's finally attack. It opened its mouth wide in a last second attempt to swallow Sora's head whole.

"Here, you can eat this instead." Sora said before plunging the Keyblade downwards, sinking it into its jaw. Sora kicked off the Leviathan's scaly green skin with his left leg managing to just land on the tip of the harbour. He recalled his Keyblade and watched along with Luna and Hercules as the Leviathan sprawled about wildly before freezing up and falling back into the water.

"We sure showed that thing who's boss." Luna said placing her arms behind her head.

"What was it anyway?" Sora asked turning around to face Luna and Herc.

"We called it a Leviathan. It only appeared here just recently, about two weeks ago. There's been a shortage of imports and exports coming in and out of Thebes due to that creature disrupting shipments coming to and leaving the port. I've been coming here every day to investigate and check up on things but it's never shown itself, at least not until now. I wonder what caused it to suddenly appear again…" Herc explained.

"Ah who cares? We came, we saw, we kicked it's ass. That's all that matters." Sora said in frustration. His head was already brimming with so many questions about the mysterious girl he had just met that he didn't want another mystery added on top of it. Luna was in much of the same position, not really sure what to think of the situation, or even if she wanted to think of it.

Luna stated what her dominating thought was, "I have to agree with Sora. Why don't we talk on the way to the coliseum?"

Both Hercules and Sora thought it to be a good idea, so the three set off down the slightly chilly and icy street towards the home of the world's greatest entertainment venue. Hercules talked about himself in a bit more detail to Luna before she returned the favour. When Sora had asked the champion how Megara had been doing in a rather exasperated tone Herc blushed and replied by telling him that she was doing fine.

"I think it's rather beautiful the way you described her and you. Don't listen to monkey-boy here, he's just jealous." Luna told Herc as they exited Thebes and walked across the long road. Already, they could see the giant looming attraction known as the coliseum up ahead.

"Since when was I monkey-boy? And how am I jealous?" Sora asked nonplussed.

"Since you're always jumping around like one when we're fighting I figured it was a suitable title. Also I'm just kidding about the jealousy thing, no need to get fussed over it… unless you are-"

"I'm not jealous," Sora cut in, "Also I still prefer friendly neighbourhood clown thank you very much. Hey Herc, have you seen Auron around?"

When Hercules shook his head, Sora sighed. Feeling Luna's wondering gaze on him, he explained to her about when he met Auron and his inner struggle to redeem himself following his failure to protect someone. After freeing him from Hades' control, he disappeared without a trace leaving Sora, Donald and Goofy to question where the brave warrior had gone.

"I hope I meet him then, he sounds like a cool guy." Luna said after Sora had finished his tale.

"Maybe a bit too cool though. He was always doing his own thing if I recall. And he had this weird saying to, 'This is my story, and you're not part of it'" Herc imitated, or at least tried to imitate, Auron's deep and stoic nature. This caused the two teens to laugh, and then Luna had to end up listening to Sora's Leon impression. She had to admit, it would have been rather close if not for the slight hint of the expression of fun in Sora's voice.

They soon arrived at the gates to the Coliseum. Beyond the golden gates were a set of doors that would lead towards to the entrance of the lobby. Seeming to give way easily from Herc's pull, the gates swung open with a creaky noise allowing for the three to continue on to the next obstruction barring their way from the coliseum. As Luna entered the entrance she stopped to admire the décor of the building. The door was situated between two large golden gladiators crossing their swords. From what Luna could tell it represented triumph and honour, determination and valor. All the qualities a hero should possess.

Lining the walls on the side were trophies dedicated to previous cups that had taken place and behind her was a list of previous tournaments and their victors.

"They're all pretty impressive huh?" Sora watched as Luna examined the area.

"I take it then you're going to enter this tournament?" Herc asked.

"That's the plan. When does it start?" Sora inquired while Luna stopped her observations to listen in closely.

"Two weeks. You'll have plenty of time to train." Herc told them.

"If it's the 'same old' then why bother?" Sora asked referring to the Heartless always showing up for the tournaments.

"Because the winner of the tournament will get to challenge me and if you're not at the top of your game then tough luck because I'm not holding back this time." Herc said.

"This time? I beat you fair and square champ. Still, what I wouldn't give to face off against you again. How long has it been since I last fought you now?" Sora asked.

"Two years now. True, I'd like to see how much you've improved since last time. Still won't change the fact that you can't beat me though." Hercules challenged.

"Oh you're on!" Sora exclaimed making a triumphant fist.

The three entered the lobby, a small room which housed other previous trophies. Moving beyond that was the actual coliseum arena. The dark tunnel that they had to walk through was surprisingly atmospheric and Luna could only wonder what it would be like walking through when the actual tournament started. They soon emerged on the other side to a large square arena with seats on either side.

"Hey Phil! Meg!" Sora greeted as the three walked up to the long haired red head and her smaller half-goat half-human companion in the middle of the arena.

"Hey, it's the hero." Phil jumped up and ran over to him.

"So… not junior hero then?" Sora smirked as he got down and pulled Phil in for a quick hug.

"If you have to ask-"

"I know, I know. If you have to ask then you're probably not ready yet." Sora interjected releasing the short statured man.

"Now you're learning. Hey, where's Donald and Goofy? We all have some serious catching up to do." Phil was looking around as if he had not noticed Luna's presence in front of him yet, and the funny thing is from his gestures, it seemed like he actually had not.

"Donald and Goofy… are doing something else at the moment. Instead, I've brought someone better." Sora set up the introduction sliding behind Luna and placing his hands on her shoulders.

"I'm Luna, it's nice to meet you." Luna introduced, holding out her hand. Instead of taking it, Phil inspected Luna for the first time, as his eyes moved across her body she began to feel very awkward. Could the goat-boy stare at her any longer?

"Way to screw up first impressions goat-boy. Don't worry about him, I'm Megara but my friends call me Meg. It's a pleasure to meet you." Meg pushed past Phil as if on cue and shook Luna's hand. It was as if the taller girl had been reading her mind and decided to step in to save her.

_Talk about being saved by the bell._ Luna thought as she smiled back before Meg turned to give Sora a hug.

"What are you talking about? First impressions are everything for me. That's why I was inspecting-"

"I wasn't talking about her, I was talking about you. You just came of as all creepy and- eww!" Meg criticised. Suddenly it was clear to Luna whose side she would take up if it probably came to an argument. It wasn't even close.

"Oh right. Sorry to put pressure on ya but I was just checking up on something. See, I can tell a lot about someone just by looking at them so I thought I might give you a try." Phil said.

"Right… I'm sure that was totally it." Megara turned to Luna and lipped the last few words she had to say. Luna managed to get the gist of what she was saying and gave a soft giggle.

"So tell me Phil. What can you tell about me?" Luna asked.

Phil looked up and down once more, "Well… you're clumsy, sometimes lazy, you're too soft at times…"

"Sums it up in a nutshell," Sora grinned and shrugged while Luna flashed him a dangerous look, "Come on Luna, I was just joshing around. You always give you're absolute 110 per cent when you're with me. He said the same thing about me too, well more or less, but the point is that he does it to rev you up… right Phil?" Sora gritted his teeth and looked over to Phil slowly.

"Oh, yeah, absolutely. Of course what I'm saying is just first impressions but there is definitely some room left for improvement." Phil nodded his head unconsciously.

"If you say so. Anyway, I expected Herc's trainer to be a lot… bigger." Luna said looking back and forth between Hercules and Phil.

"Ah it's not size that matters Luna. Plus, Phil is a great trainer, one of the best there is out there." Herc complimented lifting up Phil.

"Hey, put me down. This has really got to stop." An annoyed Phil said making Herc put him back down to the ground.

"So then you wouldn't mind training me then would you Phil?" Luna asked and summoned her Dream Seeker, "I can show that I'm ready."

"Isn't that the same thing Sora has? Why don't you ask for training from him?"

"Because while Sora's cool and all, he could never compare to the great Phil. You are one of the best out there right?" Luna tried to flatter. She looked over quickly to Sora who gave her a quick thumbs up before she turned back.

Phil blushed before returning to his normal state, "Well I've only got two words for you: Of course I'll train ya."

"Huh? That was actually-"

"Anyway, that's absolutely wonderful Luna," Herc said cutting off Luna's correction before whispering into her ear, "It's best not to bother."

Luna nodded slowly concluding that this was a recurring theme with Phil so it was best to leave it be. Before Sora could ask where Pegasus was, the creature appeared high in the sky flying over the coliseum in a circular motion. Soon it landed in the arena and nudged its head into Sora's hand.

"A flying horse huh? That. Is. Awesome!" Luna squealed in delight as she walked over to slowly pat the horse's head. He retracted quickly from her touch scaring her slightly, but when he saw that she posed no harm to him, a rattling sound came from his mouth and he gave a curtsy allowing Luna to pat and stroke him freely.

"His name is Pegasus. He was created by my father Zeus, who lives up on Olympus. I can tell he likes you already." Hercules laughed.

"So we've got two weeks to go until the tournament. We'll be ready by then right Luna?" Sora asked as he and Luna stepped away from Pegasus.

Luna smiled confidently, "Of course, the unstoppable team of Luna and Sora beats all."

"Wait, why is it Luna and Sora? Why can't it be Sora and Luna?" Sora asked.

"Does it matter? I am so not going over this." Luna fumbled with the crimson ribbon in her hair given to her by Mei as she talked.

"I know, what's with guys and wanting to be first at everything right Luna?" Meg added in playfully.

"Exactly, I think we're gonna get along just fine Meg." Luna grinned as the two walked back towards the lobby eventually starting up a random conversation.

"Hey, what do you mean 'guys and wanting to be first'?" Sora asked sensing some nostalgia from the situation.

"Meg, Luna, surely you can't be saying all men are like that? Right?" Hercules called after her.

"Don't group me in with these bunch of numbskulls." Phil jumped up and down in the air. Pegasus could only shake his head as the three ran after the girls before collapsing in exhaustion.

* * *

The day passed quickly with Sora and Luna being guided around Thebes by Hercules and Meg. As they passed through some of the key locations they tried to make a mental note of their location so they could navigate their way more easily. Of course Thebes was a big city and by no means would it be easy for them to remember everything. They had only really covered the areas near the coliseum and had not gone further past that so anything beyond a certain point was a no-no unless they wanted to get lost on purpose. Secretly, Sora and Luna were keen on the idea though of getting lost and having to figure out where to go but they weren't stupid to actually go ahead with it. There was one thing they both knew about this journey however and that if anything, it was unpredictable hence Luna having to adapt to Sora's policy of figuring things out as they went along rather quickly.

Night soon fell upon the city. The frequent bustling that Sora and Luna had come to know it by was less than it had been in the day but far from quiescent with its many soldiers and guards still out on the streets. Sora and Luna had taken to the Highwind to rest after refusing Herc's kind offer to pay for them to stay at the inn.

Sora's view was constantly fixed on the world map screen mounted on the console. While the screen was still showing, it was starting to blur troubling Sora even though he had made sure the autopilot had been turned on. His mind was in a completely different place other than the world he was in, Radiant Garden to be specific. He couldn't help but wonder how Riku, Kairi and the others were doing and if they were alright with security OS shut down. Already so many things had happened within the past month, something that Sora had thought he was done with for a while after returning to the islands with Riku and Kairi.

The defeat of Xehanort and his plan to reignite the Keyblade War had left Sora, especially Sora, exhausted. That the spiky haired brunette was able to help so many others find their awakening was a key reason as to why he was remembered the most out of the other six guardians of light, Donald and Goofy. He personally believed that he would have not been able to help the others had it not been for his other friends but they seemed reluctant to share anymore of the glory leaving it to Sora to play to the masses.

So after that close outbreak of war he had returned to the islands only to have them destroyed six months later. In that same month he had befriended a girl who had lost her memory, found out that the King had gone missing, the Radiant Garden OS not working, helping Alice to recover her memory, rescuing a bunch of puppies and intervening against the rules of the worlds to save three princesses from arranged marriage.

_What a crazy life I live huh? _Was all Sora could think after summing up everything, causing him to soon start chuckling and resting his head against the panel.

"Want to let me in on the joke?" Luna asked as she came in.

"It's just that this month has been so crazy for me and you. I'm just laughing about all the things we've done so far." Sora lifted his head and gave a wry smile.

"True, it's been a wild one hasn't it?" Jiminy agreed who had also walked in with Luna though Sora hadn't noticed until he had spoken.

"Yeah and tomorrow I start my training with Phil. I wonder what things he'll teach me," Luna said leaning against the ship's walls, "So we're planning on staying here the whole two weeks huh?"

"Not like we have much of an option. You need to train and if we leave just before the tournament who knows if we'll make it back. Still, it's gonna be a long one." Jiminy answered.

Luna yawned quickly, "Well I bid ye good night guys. I am so tired from today."

"Heh, just think about tomorrow. Anyway good night right back at ya." Sora replied and watched as the sleepy girl retired to her room before turning around on the swivel chair and placing his head and now his arms back on to the panel.

* * *

"So, what do we do first?" Luna clasped her hands together in a cheerful manner as she looked down at Phil.

"You're enthusiastic, that's always good. Now, I'll need you to carry this-" Phil rushed off and soon brought back the most impressive amount of bags Luna had ever seen, "with me to Thebes."

"What's with this luggage? Are we going on a holiday or something?" Luna took up one of the bags and weighed it in her hand. It certainly was quite heavy by itself and if Phil was going to make her carry the rest of the luggage then…

"How could you be thinking about a holiday at a time like this? Pick 'em up and let's go." Phil ordered.

"All of this? This must be a serious lesson I'm learning then. Or I'm just carrying your luggage for you." Luna grimaced before trying to lift up all of the bags and place them over her shoulder. Immediately she felt the intense weight upon her legs and they began to shake as she stumbled about with the bags.

"What are you doing? You can't honestly tell me that's all you got right?" Phil asked as he watched as Luna seemed to follow the bags across the room rather than having them follow her.

"It's harder than it looks y'know? Wanna try?" She growled while Phil ignored her and opened the door to allow her through before heading out as well. As the two walked down towards the coliseum gates, Sora, Meg and Hercules watched on from the side in concern.

"You sure she's gonna be okay?" Sora asked.

Hercules nodded, "Phil knows what he's doing. Or at least he did with me. He may be tough on you but that's because he cares."

"That's what I'm worried about Wonderboy, she's not you." Meg commented.

Luna was walking at the pace of a snail as she struggled up the road towards Thebes. Phil was up ahead and constantly trying to incite her into pushing and working harder though Luna wasn't so sure if she had the strength to endure this torture. Even as she entered Thebes after what took about fifteen minutes of walking, she could hardly say her motivation was increased with the multiple pairs of eyes staring at her resulting in extreme embarrassment. She hardly needed their pity either, so she just kept her eyes to the ground and ignored everything around her, even the increasing temperature of her face.

"Okay, we'll rest here," Phil said after some time causing Luna to sigh and collapse to the ground in exhaustion, dropping the bags along with her. She didn't even care if she was in the middle of the street and that many people were looking down on her as they passed. She couldn't even talk much less be concerned with the awareness of others at the moment.

Reaching into one of the bags, Phil pulled out a bar of chocolate and handed it to Luna who hungrily accepted it, "It'll make ya feel better."

Luna felt the delicious chocolate sensation melt into her tongue as she bit down. While she was hungry, it was important to savour every last piece so she took her time in examining each piece studiously before taking a bite. Meanwhile, Phil had mentioned that he needed to do something in the city and so he had told her to stay there while he wondered off.

"What is that in your hand?" Luna asked five minutes later when Phil came back.

"Dry cleaning." Phil said evoking looks of confusion from the brunette.

"Sorry? Why would you need dry cleaning? You're practically naked!" Luna pointed out.

"Look, it's none of ya business. I just owe someone is all," Phil said, "anyway, let's head back to the coliseum."

"Wait, what? We just came here for your dry cleaning and you're telling me we have to head back already? What was the point of me bringing these bags then?"

"Would you stop complaining? We need to get back to training." Phil said as Luna got up ready to shout at the satyr but refrained from doing so in order to not cause a scene.

"I'm sorry your majesty, I had no idea we were training." Luna murmured sarcastically as she reluctantly picked up the bags again.

This 'training' of Phil's continued into the next day, with Luna growing more irritated by the second. Was he even trying to train her? Or was he making fun of her? Did he not believe that she had what it took to be a worthy successor to Hercules and if not why not just say it then? Either way she knew she could never be Hercules and if Phil truly believed that then she had another thing coming.

"It's like he set out to intentionally annoy me," Luna was saying as she clashed blades with Sora. It was evening and Sora and Luna were out in the arena practicing their physical and magical skills, "He constantly makes me carry his luggage backwards and forwards. What am I supposed to learn from this again?"

Sora guarded an attack from Luna as he spoke, "You've been complaining about this how many times now?" He slid to her left and struck down but Luna was quick in jumping back and firing off a shot from her Keyblade. Sora cut through the fire with his Prism Windmill attack, using his Keychain in a similar manner as Luna's Chain Rave to spin the Keyblade, "Look, I'm sure Phil has something in mind. He wouldn't do this just because he hates you."

"I'm not so sure. You saw the way he was looking at me two days ago. You also would probably be saying the same thing if you were in my position." Luna said performing a sliding dash into Sora and knocking him to the floor. Sora knew she was right, he probably would be thinking the same thing as her.

"So what… are you planning to do about it?" Sora asked panting slightly as he got back up. Luna wasted no time in attacking causing Sora to stay in a defensive stance the entire time.

"I'm going to tell him tomorrow that I've had enough." Luna gritted her teeth as her Dream Seeker hit against the Kingdom Key's metal several times.

"Hey, don't take it out on me." Sora finding the perfect time in which he could perform a uppercut, knocking Luna's Keyblade out of her hands and sending it flying to the ground.

"Can't I just learn from you Sora? Phil doesn't even have a Keyblade." Luna said as she summoned Dream Seeker back with her hands.

Sora hesitated before moving in to attack. It was Luna's time to stay on the defensive but she could barely even handle that from Sora's heavy hits and soon enough she found her Keyblade once again lying on the ground.

"You can't just rely on the Keyblade Luna. That right there," Sora pointed to her Keyblade with his own, "is the perfect example. Why don't you give Phil another try, I'm sure what he's doing is not just what it looks like."

"How sure are you?" Luna said.

"How sure- About… twenty percent." Sora considered playfully giving a pensive look.

Luna giggled, "Okay, just for you then," She raised her arms and summoned her Keyblade again, "Let's go again."

* * *

On the third day, Luna once again had to resort to making herself look like a fool as she carried the heavy bags into Thebes on the hottest day of her visit so far.

"So please tell me this has something to do with upper body strength." Luna said as she collapsed for the third time in a row.

"Uh yeah, something like that." Phil said as he handed her a bar of chocolate. She declined.

"I'm sorry but 'something like that'? When are you going to be honest with me and tell me what I'm supposed to be doing? This whole time I've felt like nothing but a lapdog carrying your stupid baggage around," She had finally had it. She felt like shouting out to the rest of the world, but that hardly felt appropriate and would only serve to embarrass her more. Instead she would just focus on this area and raise only the attention of those walking past in close proximity, she could care less anymore about embarrassing herself in front of others because at least venting her frustrations on the person responsible felt less degrading. While she commended Sora's efforts to try and convince her she could go on no longer, "You know what I think? It's not that you hate me but you're so used to training Herc that you think I can be trained just like him."

"What are you talking about? I don't-"

"Hold on, I'm not finished yet," Luna cut him off, "This entire time I've felt like an idiot and you never seemed to take notice the others just staring at me while we walk. It's like you don't care. I don't know what you're thinking right now, but let me get this straight. Your methods may work on Herc but they don't on me so I refuse to carry your bags around any longer." Luna finished raising her voice slightly higher than she had meant to, but that was all right, she got her point across anyway.

Phil was about to object but stopped and looked down. There was hurt in his eyes but Luna didn't want to know much more than that, she just wanted to get some sleep and forget about everything.

"Come with me kid, I want to show you something." Phil suddenly said before walking off. After considering whether to follow him or not, Luna just went along anyway, mainly because they were in one of the parts of the city that she did not know too well. She did not have to follow him for long before he entered a large stone building that seemed to be in the centre of the city if she remembered the map correctly. The street itself split off into multiple paths leading her to believe that it was the same building as the one in the map at least.

"This is the hall of heroes," Phil said as the two of them walked through it. It was a long hall with statues of different people lined up on either side in parallel fashion, "It's home to most of the world's best. Achilles, Odysseus, Perseus, the list goes on. What's my point? What do they all have in common?"

Luna looked at them for a while then back at Phil, "They're all men?"

Phil slapped his forehead, "What? No, well yeah but that's not it. They were all great men, but it wasn't the fact that they were men that made them so successful, after all Atalanta who's not here is a woman who could easily outrun most other men. It was because they were determined, willing to overcome any strife, any obstacle in their way. They weren't perfect; they had to work on their weaknesses before they could become the heroes we know today," Phil continued down the hall until he got to a certain statue, "It was the same for Hercules. I didn't believe that he was the son of god when I first met the kid. Boy he proved me wrong. And I trained him to become the hero he is today, can you believe it? Me of all people…"

Phil chuckled as he looked up towards the face of the statue, "Everyone I've trained up until him either gave up or died and I was starting to think it was because of the way I taught. So I retired, but here comes this kid running up to me and asking for me to be his trainer. And he's still alive to this day. He overcame the hardships I gave him through working on his weaknesses though it certainly took a while. It made me realise that as long as people have the motivation, the belief, the resolve to get back up on their feet and continue on even when it seems like an impossible task, then they can do anything," Phil looked back at her with tears in his eyes as he saw Luna nodding her head in understanding, "When I said there was definitely some room for improvement, I meant it. By no means am I telling you to be perfect or like someone else, so don't ever tell me I don't care. I give you that task because I care, because I want you to learn a lesson from it, because I believe that you can do if you're persistent. You ask why I don't just tell you what you're supposed to learn but do you really want me to hold your hand the whole time? I don't tell you because I want you to figure out the answers for yourself. And when it comes down to it anyway, it's all about interpretation. At the end of the day, you can either take my advice and follow it or you can define it as useless and throw it away. So if you want to quit now be my guest, I will understand however."

Luna's eyes shifted downwards in sadness, "I'm sorry Phil, I didn't-"

"What, know? Yeah, it's not usually something I'm open about. I have dreams too you know? Dreams of looking up to the sky and seeing my own constellation, as if the gods were praising me for a job well done. 'You did it Phil, you were the trainer of the most successful hero around' They'd say." Phil expressed before wiping the tears from his eyes.

Luna had taken Phil's passionate speech to heart. In a way, she now felt sick with herself for shouting at him when she had not fully understood his intentions.

"Phil, how about you go back? I need to think about something. I'll carry your bags back for you." Luna said feeling completely different somehow.

"If you want to be alone kid I understand but are you sure you know your way back to the coliseum?" Phil asked.

"I'll figure things out as I go along." Luna smiled sweetly before starting off down the aisle of statues and examining them one by one.

* * *

**Yay for character development! Phil is surprisingly easy to write when you try and imagine him with the voice of Danny DeVito. And we're gonna have to try and kill of two weeks. Wonder what will happen in that amount of time.**


	37. Seer of the Seas

**Have quite a long chapter with a lot of developments. So without further ado, I'll leave you to read the chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 37

Seer of the Seas

When Sora had woken up on the Highwind the next day, Luna was nowhere to be found. He, Jiminy and Kupopo had searched the entire ship to make sure before giving up. Concerned for her safety, the three headed down to Thebes and made their way to the Coliseum. For Kupopo it was his first time being in another world from his old one and he took great joy in expressing his enthusiasm to the other two though they weren't really listening, far too preoccupied with the missing girl.

They exited the town and made their way down the dry path. They did not have to travel long before they saw exactly where Luna was. She was heading towards them at a jogging pace while carrying the luggage which she had been chuffed at for the past three days. Her smile met Sora's as she increased her pace slightly and headed up the hill to meet them.

"Where were you Luna? We were worried sick about ya? Did Phil really make you carry that entire baggage of luggage this early in the morning?" Jiminy asked for both him and Sora.

"No, I asked for it myself. I've decided that I need to make the most of the time I have training here so I might as well give it my all," Luna said while trying to catch her breath, "sorry guys, but I really need to get back to this. I'll meet you back at the coliseum."

Sora looked at her suspiciously, "You sure you're okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Luna asked in a curious manner as she started to jog on the spot with much efficacy.

Sora scratched his head, "You seem… Nah, forget it. Go on ahead before you collapse then." He gave her two thumbs-up watching her confusion slowly transition to a smile before waving and starting back down the path to the city.

"You think Phil said something to her? She seems entirely different to yesterday." Sora voiced his thoughts aloud.

"That's possible. We were heading in that direction anyway so maybe we should go and find out?" Jiminy suggested. Sora nodded and the three continued off in the direction to the coliseum. They entered the gates to find Phil at the entrance looking around for something. Phil's eyes didn't seem to move from the ground as Sora walked up to him. In addition, he seemed to be mumbling about something however it was so incoherent that Sora was only able to pick up a few words here and there. The boy had to clear his throat loudly for Phil to take notice of him.

"Oh Sora, no time to talk. Have you seen my luggage around? It's missing." Phil continued to patrol the area he seemed interested in around in circles.

Sora looked to Jiminy and Kupopo, "Huh? Didn't you just give it Luna a few moments ago?"

"Luna? What does she- Wait! Are you saying she had something to do with this?" Phil asked.

"Wait? You didn't know? Then that means…" Sora paused for a while before laughing, "Oh she's good. I guess this makes up for me swiping her journal of her when she wasn't looking." He crossed his legs and put his hands to the back of his head while sporting a whimsical grin on his face.

Over the next few days, Luna practised more than she ever had before. On one side, Luna was still her normal self, spending time with Sora, Jiminy, Kupopo, Meg and Herc having fun with them. Even when she was training, Luna never took herself too seriously and would always put others before herself. On the other hand, Luna no longer felt she was being held back by Phil's rhetoric during training and often found herself motivated by it more than bored. In her last days of jogging while lifting his luggage, Luna had found that the luggage had not been as heavy as she had initially perceived. It was almost as if letting go of her conscious and awareness that the bags had been heavy had made it feel as if they weren't actually heavy. She could feel herself getting lighter and being able to conserve more energy as she ran through the streets of Thebes and back no longer feeling embarrassed about having to carry luggage around. She felt less conscious of herself and more of her surroundings and destination which possibly factored into the developed lack of embarrassment.

Eventually she discarded the luggage and took to jogging without it. Being able to go for longer periods of times was beneficial for her and her next piece of training. Phil had set up an obstacle course within one of the training areas of the Coliseum which was partitioned by a wall to separate it from the rest of the areas.

"We'll see how quickly you can get through this. I'll time you and we'll see what we can do to improve at the end." Phil instructed to Luna as she and Meg look around at the course.

"You've done it again goat-boy." Meg praised looking around quite pleased. The course was filled with rings, poles stuck into the ground and the wall, baby-like cupid statues which Phil had told them fired off arrows[1], 12-foot walls with smooth pebbles attached to them that could be climbed and ropes that needed to be swung across. On top of that there were platforms of different levels which Luna would have to jump from.

"This is rather hardcore," Luna commented. She felt like re-energized battery at the moment, "But I should be able to do it. Okay, begin the timer."

Phil blew the whistle and Luna rushed off towards the course jumping up onto the platforms quickly. A cupid shot an arrow at Luna but she ducked to avoid it feeling no need to use her Keyblade in order to deflect the shot. The cupid continued to shoot but she had no time to see where the shots landed, she only knew that they were somewhere behind her. She jumped for the rope and swung onto another platform landing rather clumsily at the edge of it but quickly regaining her balance and continuing. She saw a ring up ahead with its support stuck into the ground and smiling, Luna ran at it with full speed to help make up the time. She rolled through the ring with ease only to be surprised by a giant punching bag flying towards her which most likely had been set off as a trap when she had touched something, though she had no idea what unless Phil was the one actually controlling it. Instinctively, she placed her hands in front of her and took the blow which had been powerful enough to knock her onto the ground.

_Of course you wouldn't tell me about the traps Phil_. Luna gritted her teeth and got back up before running but at a slower pace than usual. She soon got to the polls stuck in the ground along with a sign next to them which read in bold and rather bad handwriting: "DO NOT TOUCH". Luna angled herself so she was between the first two poles and slid in, trying to maneuver through the rest of the poles. She emerged on the other side to see two of the cupids shooting arrows directly at her from up ahead. She dodged to the side to avoid the attacks and when she was close slid behind them with the help of her sliding dash before jumping high up onto the next platform.

"Doing pretty well so far." She said to herself as she came up on the first of the 12-foot walls. She jumped high and grabbed on to the large pebbles and started climbing. Finally making it over the wall she continued on to where there was a pole sticking out from the wall. She executed a dive over the pole and finished with a roll. Almost immediately she rolled again to avoid another swinging trap. Looking behind her she finally saw what it was that had sprung the trap. Attached from the ground heading straight to the wall was a piece of string, quite invisible to the naked eye unless you were intentionally looking for it.

Luna grinned and raced to the finish line. She climbed over the second wall quickly and slid under another pole in the wall. More cupid arrows surrounded her but she was too fast for their arrows and soon she jumped just being able to catch the last platform with her right hand. She heaved herself up with her other hand and moved in between more poles before crossing the finishing line. Phil blew the whistle once again and Luna made her way over to him and Megara.

"So, how did I do?" Luna accepted the flask full of water Meg had given her and took a swig.

"Not bad for a first run. But…"

"It could be better," Luna finished off Phil's hanging sentence and nodded. "I know that, so let me try again."

Meg's eyes widened at the Luna's determination, "Don't you want to take a rest first?"

The brunette shook her head, "I'm not tired. I feel better than ever actually. So let's try again." She handed the flask back to Meg and crouched down. Now that she had an idea of what the course entailed she could plan it out in more detail and do even better.

"Okay, if you think you can…" Phil trailed off and placed the whistle in his mouth.

* * *

The week progressed further and after a rather rocky start, Luna was proud to say that she enjoyed the challenges that Phil was giving her. As the Games neared ever closer, Luna felt herself getting better with her skills. In the evenings Sora trained her to learn the Gravity spell, a rather complicated one which, even with Luna's intense training, took a lot of energy out of her. It was a hard spell to execute and there wasn't any simple way to see what effect the spell had until the Games had as using it on someone was out of the option. Sora had told her that it was mainly for use of aerial enemies though if she ran out of magic to use quickly. Luna therefore resorted to practicing her other magic primarily in her own time while she focused on Gravity with Sora.

With her fire magic, she had finally learned to form a rotating ring of flames around her much like Sora's magic though it still seemed significantly weaker than his. Even so, she knew it would be useful at least as a defensive method by fending of enemies that were closing in. As for other spells, she hadn't really gotten to practicing them mainly because she had been too drained by her jogging, the obstacle course and learning the Gravity spell.

The second week came quite quickly and Sora had been anticipating it with much glee. The reason for this had been Herc announcing the day before that he had been invited to come along with the muscle-bound hero to Mt Olympus where the gods resided. The way Herc had talked about it made it seem like a very rare occasion to Sora. Supposedly, not that many had made it to the top to even be able to relive the tale of meeting such highly appreciated figures to their friends and family. Hercules was different as he was a demigod so it begged the question as to why the gods wanted to see Sora.

"You ready hero?" Herc asked pulling off his trademark smirk.

"Of course, but why can't Luna come?" Sora asked as he looked to the girl who was right next to him.

"They specifically requested you. Let's just say the gods up on Olympus are picky about who they choose." Herc answered.

"Don't worry Sora. I'll be hanging out with Meg and Phil here. At least you have Herc and Jiminy as company." Luna said a little disappointed. Jiminy had been able to easily tag along because of his miniscule size and Luna was counting on the cricket to make sure that Sora didn't do anything too rash in case he got into trouble along the way.

"Okay, we'll be back as soon as we can okay?" Sora waved to Luna before setting off. He felt as he turned away from her, that Luna had more to say but she didn't seem to press any further. Whether it was if she had had another strange dream which she wanted to discuss or not it wasn't as if he couldn't ask her about it when he came back so as he walked away from her with Hercules he looked back and silently mouthed, "We'll talk later." She seemed to understand for she nodded her head and gave a weak smile.

"So, how long will it take to get there?" he asked Herc as he breathed in the early morning air after leaving past the coliseum gates. He couldn't exactly describe it but there was always something different about the air and the atmosphere when in the coliseum as juxtaposed to being outside of it. It was like it was an entirely different world.

"Shouldn't be too long. I would say an hour…" Hercules vaguely guessed as he stopped walking. Sora didn't have to express his confusion aloud for Herc to know what he was thinking, "We're waiting for Pegasus." He had answered at least two of the thoughts Sora had circulating in his mind. He had not seen the flying horse for two days.

Sora gave an understanding nod and looked up into the sky. Of course that only made sense from what Herc had described of Mount Olympus. Sora felt slightly stupid for even thinking that they would have travelled there by foot only to have to scale a monstrously high mountain right after.

Sora was about to break the short amount of silence when Pegasus appeared in full view heading from the direction of the city towards them. He seemed to trot with nimbleness whilst in the air and chose not to abandon this as he landed swiftly on the ground not too far away from Sora and Herc.

"Hope you're not afraid of flying horses." said Herc giving Sora a slap on the back.

"Are you kidding me? How hard can flying on a horse's back be?" Sora laughed off his nerves. He had handled a Jabberwocky before, so he was sure he could do this. It turned out he was quite wrong.

The first mistake he had made was comparing it to a large dragon, which had a wider surface area and which Sora could easily hold onto. Pegasus, as it should be most obvious to the average eye, was a horse. Not only that but he had to share this small space along with Herc. The second mistake he had made was laughing it off with mock confidence. Pegasus seemed to have mistranslated this as a challenge and pushed forwards gradually increasing his speed by the second. The wind slapped against Sora's face as he struggled to hang on to the horse for dear life.

"Hey, do you think you can tell this thing to go a little slower." said Sora who was afraid if he talked much more he would puke.

"Sorry, what did you say? I can't here you." shouted Herc above the sound of the wind.

"I said, do you think you can tell this thing to go a little slower." demanded Sora a little more loudly.

"Ah. Hey Pegasus, mind slowing down a bit?" The horse looked around to his friend before following Hercules' orders.

"Finally! I couldn't hear myself think the whole time." complained Sora gruffly.

"I thought you said you weren't afraid Sora?" Herc asked with the slightest hint of triumph in his voice. Had Pegasus and Herc been conspiring against him? Sora gave a minor grunt of annoyance and instead looked down. Below him was a mix of green and brown as Pegasus flew over the countryside and left behind in the distance was the large city of Thebes. The fields took them all the way to a trench which when followed ended by a river seeming to stretch on for many miles.

The wind against his face actually felt nice when not going at an insane speed, Sora had found. He closed his eyes and envisioned being back at the islands and lying down on the shore while taking in the familiar smell of the ocean as the waves gently lapped against one another. Thinking about it now he truly did wish that Luna could see it. If there was anywhere he wanted to take her before she went back to her home, it would be his own. He could imagine the smile on her face as she raced along with him, Riku and Kairi under the bridge and to the other side of the island, with Donald, Goofy and the King cheering them on as they did so. They could even eat Kairi's homemade Ice Cream on the Paopu tree while watching the sun transform both the sky and water revealing its beautiful orange glow. Sora had only seen a sunset as great as that in Twilight Town which he had also promised to take Luna in order to meet Namine and the rest of his friends.

Sora opened his eyes. The image was slowly fading and his hopes along with it. His islands were gone. His favourite spots, friends and family had disappeared, only existing now in his memories. He wasn't going pressure Luna into helping him get his islands back when she had lost something of her own and if she returned to her home before he could bring back his islands and show her them–

"Sora. Are you even listening?"

Sora snapped out of his thoughts in such a prompt manner that he nearly fell off of Pegasus.

"What were you saying?"

"You worried about Luna?" repeated Herc.

"Ha-ha, something like that." Sora replied half-truthfully.

"Don't worry too much about it. I know it seems unfair but when you get back you can tell her all about it," Herc tried to console him. Sora gave him a quick grin before Herc turned around again to face the direction they were going in.

The river led straight towards uneven hills and more buildings. As Sora flew over them, the realisation finally hit him that he was actually flying to a place where it would soon be impossible to see the miniscule dots roaming around in the fields and outside their houses. The air around them was getting colder as they ascended even higher into the sky. Over a forest they flew and Sora had to tuck his legs in and cling tightly to Pegasus' frame as the horse calculatingly decided that he would pick that time to try and scare Sora.

The first signs that they were nearing their destination were approaching quickly. Hercules pointed out the mountains up ahead. Just below by the base of the mountain was a port town with a set of ship stationed nearby. Sora soon felt as if he were fall off as Pegasus began flying even higher than before, circling the mountain as he did so. Sora something in his stomach plunge as Pegasus swooped down and entered a tunnel gaining speed once again.

Sora gritted his teeth and held on for dear life as he felt Pegasus swoop left and right to dodge the jagged rocks inside the dark cave.

_Those guys up on Olympus might want to consider relocation, or at least a refurbishment plan. _Sora thought. As he looked left for a second, he saw a spike narrowly miss his face and fall onto the ground.

They eventually emerged out of the cave and through the clouds to see the large golden gates of Olympus up ahead. Sora sighed deeply as Pegasus landed down softly on the clouds as opposed to the sudden impact he had expected.

"Time to get off! You did great Pegasus, take a break." Herc observed the horse's enervated state before slipping off him and rubbing the horse's blue mane. Sora jumped off and walked around rather tipsily not yet being able to register most of the things around him. When he recovered he finally realised that he was walking on a cloud.

"Whoa! How am I not falling?" Sora crouched down and felt around the cottony-like substance he was on. His hand went through quite easily indicating that he wasn't standing on any secret platform but he was still somehow able to walk on a cloud.

"Hard to believe huh? Anyway, let's head on, wouldn't want to keep my father waiting." Herc took the lead walking up the steps to the gates. Sora watched his step as he followed Herc carefully.

"I thought you said it would take about an hour to get here," said Sora, "It felt like three hours."

"It was. It would have been one if I had been going at my normal speed." Herc remarked causing Sora to stop in his tracks.

"Wait, THAT was your normal speed? You've gotta be kidding me, I thought the horse wanted to make my life a living hell!" exclaimed the Keyblade bearer in a slight daze.

"What? Why would he want that? I don't think you ever did anything to him." Herc told him as he stopped before the gates.

"Then what about flying low at the forest?" questioned Sora.

"Oh, he did that the first time for me too. Don't take it personally." Herc answered causing Sora to feign annoyance.

"Hercules! I see you brought the Keyblade wielder along too. I don't know, from what I'd heard of the guy who stopped the resurrection of the Keyblade War, I'd have expected him to be… different." A blue man with a helmet and sandals holding a staff swept in from out of nowhere to appear on the other side of the gate.

"Ah come on Hermes, Sora's got a lot of heart. He's a hero alright," Herc dragged Sora towards him, "This is Hermes. He's the messenger of the gods."

"It's as he says. Believe it or not, you're looking at the saviour of the worlds right here." Sora grinned mischievously wondering how far he could get away with the hero's gig.

"Okay okay, no need to get all high and mighty about it. Come on through." Hermes told them. He was a fast paced talker so Sora had to lean in to understand all of what he was saying.

The gates opened allowing Sora to take his first step into the home of the Olympians.

* * *

Sora walked through the well-lit hall of the gods slowly taking in the statues lined up against the wall showcasing the deities that inhabited the building. There were six on either side and as he walked past them he listened as Herc introduced each of them. He, Herc and Hermes stopped short of the door leading into the next room.

Herc turned to Sora, "Be my guest Sora."

Nodding Sora walked over slowly to the door and pushed forwards with both hands. The heavy doors separated and Sora took a look into the room, paused and then ultimately gave a look of surprise. It had not been the grand circular room with a balcony to overlook what was below, nor had it been the twelve seats around him filled with the gods he had seen in the previous room with the exclusion of one (obviously for Hermes).

"You!" Sora exclaimed in surprise slowly stepping towards the girl he and Luna had met in Thebes a week ago. She was sat in the middle of the round room with her legs crossed and her eyes closed.

The girl opened her eyes and blinked rapidly for a while as if trying to adjust to her surroundings. Sora had gotten the feeling that it was if she had almost been in an entirely different place before she had heard his voice.

"Sora? Is that you?" The coral blue haired girl got up slowly as if she were sprouting from her bud before a nervous smile appeared on her face.

"I take it you've met Yeul before young man?" The god sitting on the northern most chair opposite Sora spoke heartily. This would have been Zeus if Sora's listening skills had paid off.

"Yeul?" asked Sora confusedly.

"Blazes boy, the name of the girl?" The god on the left of him, which would be Ares judging from his gear and short plump physique, pointed out in a gruff voice.

"I think he was just trying to confirm Ares. No need to make such a fuss of it." said Aphrodite hotly. She was the one sitting to the right of the war god.

"I wasn't, from where I'm standing the boy couldn't defeat a toothpick. Are we seriously assuming this kid is the one who saved the worlds from disaster?" Ares spat eyeing the boy suspiciously.

"One does not require brawn in order to triumph at battle. As long as he has a strong heart, I don't see why he couldn't prevail." Another woman to two seats to the right of Zeus spoke seeming to challenge Ares. Sora believed this one to be Athena judging the way Ares had flashed his eyes dangerously at her. Hercules had spoken of their rivalry while they had been walking so it seemed reasonable enough to assume, though Ares seemed of a spiteful disposition to begin with.

"So anyway," Sora interrupted, "you're Yeul? So how do you know who Luna and I are?"

"Would you like me to tell him dear?" Zeus asked however Yeul shook her head.

"No, perhaps it's best he hears it from me," She placed one hand on her chest, "I am known by the title of 'the seer of the seas'. As it suggests I am seer tasked with the ability to see into the future."

It took Sora a few seconds to register what she had said. By the time he had done so, he still wasn't sure what to make of it. It felt as if his mind had imploded and he had no idea what to do or make of himself anymore. He could only calmly walk past Yeul and out towards the balcony.

Looking down, Sora could really only see clouds below but they seemed to reflect his state of mind. A person with the ability to see into the future? He wasn't so sure if he was ready to accept that though it did explain how she knew about him and Luna. Still, a person who knew about the future was a scary thought to him and he didn't feel like thinking about it. Aware that fourteen pairs of eyes were on him, he turned around and walked back before clearing his thought in an unexpected way.

"So is that why you called me here? Because you knew I was coming?" That's what Sora understood from this anyway though he was reluctant to believe it.

"Yes, though that isn't the only reason my boy. After all you're the one who defeated Xehanort." Zeus boomed with a grin.

"It really wasn't just me but… I guess?" Sora was more interested in finding out about this girl in front of him rather than having a conversation about his life achievements though it seemed he wouldn't be able to ask her much in this kind of atmosphere. Additionally, he knew Luna had questions of her own that she wanted to ask.

"A boy who resisted the darkness and saved his friends from sleep is no small feat. Now that is true poetry." A slender but muscular man donning another helmet spoke. He was at the bottom right of the chair though Sora couldn't discern who he was.

"And saved us from the return of a Keyblade War. Don't forget that Apollo." Artemis, a woman with olive skin and a bow by her side added in.

"You know about the Keyblade War?" asked Sora.

"But of course Keybearer. The heart that governs all worlds was lost in darkness because of it. The world was engulfed in darkness but through that a light was born and the world born anew." Athena told him.

"What exactly happened in the Keyblade War though? It was important enough for Xehanort to want to start another one just for the sake of researching it."

"It happened a long time ago. A time when we had our own problems to contend with. Do you know of the titans?" When Sora shook his head Athena continued, "They waged war on us around the same time the war started. We were both fighting for possession of the light, a greed we unfortunately regret to this day. There were many victories, just as much as there were many losses. In the end however we had prevailed but it was too late. We had discovered an embodiment of greed more desperate than ourselves, humans. Can you take a guess as to whom?"

Sora hesitated, "Humans?" He seemed to remember Yen Sid talking about something similar.

Athena nodded, "Correct. They forged weapons out of metal in the image of the χ-blade, a weapon desired by many, even us gods. It was a weapon that was said to align with Kingdom Hearts itself. In other words, if you controlled the χ-blade, you controlled Kingdom Hearts. How could we not resist? But humans went a step further than us, forging the weapon you currently use and spreading fear and chaos throughout the world all in search of one ultimate weapon.

"At some point however Kingdom Hearts fell back into the darkness. With it gone, a world of ruin was left in its wake. With that said, the worlds were soon split and people started to rebuild the lost world. We with our consciences bearing a hefty burden decided to look after this world as a way of repenting for our original sin." Athena finished.

"So you wanted to pay back a debt to this world." Yeul condensed quietly much to the surprise of everyone. Sora didn't even know why everyone else was astounded at this. In fact he was pretty sure he was still the only one confused by this latest development.

"That sums it up pretty nicely dear. But not just this one, all of them. Maintaining the world order in one world means doing the same in the rest whether it is directly or indirectly." A woman next to Zeus who Sora guessed was his wife Hera said.

"So going back to Yeul," Sora said thinking he was ready to press on with the confusion, "How exactly do you see into the future?"

"It's not that I can read every single thing about the future. It's more like prophecies about certain events. For example, I dreamt before you came here that you and Luna would meet me one day… and it has come to pass." Yeul reflected flatly.

"That's kind of creepy but I think I get it. So you dream these prophecies then?" Sora checked.

"Everyone dreams Sora. It can be about anything, at the end of the day it's figuring out the useful from the useless. That's my task." answered Yeul before giving him a smile. Sora wasn't sure he understood what she had meant but he didn't question it. He already felt like a ton of weights had been dropped on him without his permission even if he had actually asked for the information.

"It is quite a lot to take in, isn't it Keybearer? She is one of a kind certainly. We don't really know much about her, just that she mysteriously arrived on our doorstep looking like a lost dove that couldn't find its way." Hermes jokingly recalled behind him. So not even the gods knew who she was, only what she had told them.

"Now if you don't have any more questions, we'd like to reward you for all your efforts," Zeus extended his hands and presented a medal of pure gold, "you've earned it and can share it with your friends if you want to."

Sora shook his head and pleaded, "It's fine, really. It was all in a day's work, there's no need to give me anything."

"Selfless. Just what I expected from a Keyblade wielder who's willing to think about others before himself. But please accept this award on our behalf. If not for preventing a repeat of the past then for being there for others." said Hera.

Sora sighed before relenting. He walked over to Zeus and bowed his head so the god could slide the medal over his head easily. Sora stepped backwards before grinning and then looking over to Yeul.

"Hey, Luna really wants to meet you again. How about we go and see her?"

"I'm afraid that if the seer will be going anywhere, it's with me." A familiar voice echoed throughout the room.

"I know that voice…Hades!" Sora yelled looking around.

"Ding ding ding. And pipsqueak takes the point. For your prize would how would you like to win one trip to the underworld?" Hades appeared in a puff of smoke behind Sora and pushed his way past.

"Hades I told you that you were no longer welcomed here up on Olympus." Zeus roared getting up from his seat.

"Oh sorry, didn't know I couldn't see my own brother whenever I wanted to." Hades rolled his eyes.

"Wait, brother? This wacko's your brother?" asked Sora breathlessly.

"I'd appreciate 'Lord of the Dead' if you will? Anyway, I've come to claim back magpie over there. We were about to finish our game of Hades says but you ran away before we could finish. I'm disappointed." Hades turned around and walked towards Yeul who placed her hands up defensively while stepping back in fear.

Sora summoned the Kingdom Key and stepped in front of Yeul, "Stay back Hades. If you do anything to harm her you'll have me to deal with."

"Oh, this is good. Now that he's a hero the little squirt's gone off and grown a pair. How cute..." Hades said annoyed.

"He's not the only one you'll have to contend with," Apollo said, "now what do you mean by claim back?"

Hades shrugged, "Exactly what it means. All I'm saying is that she got herself lost in my underworld and we became good friends, didn't we Maggie?"

"N-No. I-I-" Yeul stuttered in fear not sure where her voice had gone all of a sudden.

"Aw, you're so cold you might put my hair out. You know you're really hurting my feelings." Hades mocked sarcastically.

"Do you want to go back with him Yeul?" Sora asked the girl. When she shook her head Sora looked back and smiled, "You heard the lady, go back and crawl into your hole because I really don't feel like fighting you here."

"Oh you're hilariously funny but seriously if I had to cringe every time I heard that line I would have gotten wrinkles right now," Hades held out his hand and summoned a mirror. He held it to his face and inspected himself thoroughly, "Nope, no wrinkles. Looking as handsome as ever Hades. Aw shucks, you're looking ruggedly handsome yourself." He complimented himself before summoning the mirror away.

"Are you still here Hades? I'd advise you leave." Herc walked forwards towards Hades reaching slowly for his sword.

"Yeah yeah in a sec. Oh, by the way are you sure it was safe of you to leave your precious nutmeg and her friends in the coliseum alone?" said Hades.

Sora's eyes widened, "What did you do?"

"Oh nothing, just that if they were to get in trouble. You know what they say right, accidents happen," Sora swung his Keyblade at Hades but the god quickly disappeared in a puff of smoke once again, "Herc, we need to get back quickly."

"Right, well it's been nice meeting you dad. But a hero's call is never ignored." Herc said.

"Wait," Yeul said loudly causing Sora to stop walking, "But you said that Luna has questions she wants answered from me right?"

"Well yes but I think it would be safer for you here, at least for the time being. Also I'm certain Pegasus won't be able to hold more than two people." explained Herc. Yeul sighed but eventually shook her head and stepped back.

"Don't worry Yeul, we'll meet again. I met you now by hoping I would meet you again. How about we make a promise this time so that we'll meet for sure." Sora smiled holding out his pinky finger. Yeul looked at it for a second then up meeting Sora's eyes before giving a warm smile and intertwining his little finger with her own.

"It's a promise."

"I hope we meet again Keybearer." Hera told him. Sora nodded and untwined his finger from Yeul's. Giving a thumb up to them before heading off with Herc, both of them desperate to make it in quick time to their friends before it was too late.

* * *

**Yup, Yeul from FFXIII-2 has been revealed though unlike her FFXIII-2 person she doesn't have a guardian nor can she die a million times and still be okay. So onto reviewing the chapter.**

**1) Those cupids which shoot arrows are actually taken from the Chain of Memories version of this world. **

**2) It's pretty hard to write gods around the Keyblade War. You would have thought they'd have done something about it without having to fear dying so the fact that the Titans and Olympians fighting seemed to coincide with the war seems kind of hilarious to me.**

**3) Obviously we learn more about the Keyblade War and how the light corrupted the minds of even the strongest willed. Ah, how the past intrigues me so...**


	38. Let The Games Begin!

Chapter 38

Let the Games Begin!

Riku and Kairi had returned to a world which had felt different from when they had left two and a half weeks ago. After the invasion of Disney Castle, they had spent some time at the castle tending to those injured and relocating them to the town as reconstruction of the castle began with hasty speed. Donald, Goofy and Max had chosen to stay behind to look after Queen Minnie, if only for a week, before they came back to Radiant Garden. Riku and Kairi had also wanted to but Minnie had stressed that she would be fine and the two should get back as quickly as possible to continue repairs on the town.

As they entered the marketplace of Radiant Garden they questioned the numerous workmen and crates in the square. It was certainly suspicious that the already active part of town was engrossed in more activity than usual, especially when the culprits were people that the two of them had never seen before. Riku moved around to one of the boxes and read the name aloud that was inscribed on it to Kairi: "Xanatos Industries."

"Huh? I've never heard of them before. New corporation?" Kairi turned to him but he was already gone ahead, "Riku? Wait up! Sheesh."

"Hey, do you know what's going on here?" Riku asked walking up to one of the random folks walking around the square.

"Apparently the restoration committee made a deal with Xanatos industries for a faster and better redevelopment program for the town."

"When did this happen?" Kairi asked catching up to Riku and the man.

"About a week ago. They've been very fast with starting haven't they? Personally, I think it's a good idea to have these guys around. Them being here means creating more jobs, and that… I desperately need." The man grimaced.

"I think we need to talk to Leon and the gang about this." suggested Riku as he, Kairi and the other man watched the construction workers moved equipment from the crates in every direction while the contractors oversaw the work.

The two Keyblade wielder soon shortly arrived at Merlin's house, walking past the various new machines and equipment that seemed to be crowding the town. Kairi gave a quick knock on the door. As soon as the door opened, the three fairies suddenly flew up to the height of Kairi's face.

"Leon, we're done with cleaning," Yuna said in a sing-song voice. Opening her eyes she took a look at who was actually there then sighed tiredly, "Oh, it's you."

"What do you mean 'Oh, it's you'? How rude." Kairi pushed past the three fairies and into the door looking around. The only ones who were actually in the house bar the fairies were Cid and Yuffie.

"Hey there, so how did the castle go?" Yuffie asked kicking her legs about as she sat on the desk with Pooh's storybook which had once been on that desk now on her lap.

"Didn't Merlin already tell you?" inquired Riku knowing that Merlin had gone ahead the week previously to inform Leon and the others about the situation.

"Yep, but I'd rather hear it straight from the horse's mouth. Is the queen and everyone else okay?"

"They're fine with the exclusion of a few causalities. I expected Maleficent to attack the castle but this soon? Seems like she's pretty confident." Riku guessed.

"Maleficent, confident? Oh please, she's a complete coward!" Rikku nodded her head sharply.

"And that's enough out of you. Don't you have some cleaning to do?" Riku told the confident fairy.

Rikku snarled, "You know you're really starting to get on my nerves, why do you have the same name as me anyway?"

"Trust me, if I had known earlier that I would have been sharing a name with an annoying fairy whose sole hobby is as a no good thief I would have changed it in a heartbeat." said Riku.

"Thief? We are treasure hunters." Yuna defended.

Cid sensing an outbreak of war quickly interrupted, "Yaargh! That's enough out of the bunch of ye. Anyway you guys are no doubt wondering what's been happening around town lately, right?"

"That's exactly why we came over," Kairi confirmed taking a look outside through the window, "Xanatos industries?"

"Owned by David Xanatos. He could put Scrooge McDuck to shame with the mountain of munny he's sitting on," Cid pressed a key on the keyboard in front of him bringing up a picture of the man in question, "His corporation specializes in pretty much everything. From engineering to astrophysics to computing to medicine. You name it, he's got it."

Riku and Kairi walked over to behind Cid and looked at Xanatos' profile on the screen with keen interest. Just as Cid had said, his company pretty much focused on everything. He was also not from Radiant Garden but a different world and had decided to expand his company through Gummi travel. Riku and Kairi were not too knowledgeable on the specifics but as far as they knew the only way to get to certain worlds were through taking routes sometimes blocked by gates. If that was the case then the man had taken a big risk in bringing his employees over. They were also curious to find out as to how David Xanatos had discovered Gummi blocks and why he had decided to transfer at least some of his company over to a different world.

"He sounds okay, I guess."

"He better sound okay. This will be our future from now on kid. Radiant Garden can only go forward from here. You know, some said that going back to the old days would be impossible, what with how the darkness changed the shape of the world and all, but now I'm positive we can do even more than that, we can go further than we ever have before." Cid told them seeming to be full of determination, more than Riku and Kairi had ever seen him.

"Leon's being stubborn about it since he wanted to at least have a part in rebuilding the town in the image it used to be. Cloud doesn't care… as usual." Yuffie mumbled the last part.

"Yeah, he's kinda like you huh Paine?" Rikku remarked in a giggling manner.

"If you know what's best for you, you'll shut that mouth of yours before I shut it for you." Paine said coldly turning around to face the direction of the wall.

"Cloud is Cloud," Kairi said in a matter-of-factly tone. Her last visit to Radiant Garden had introduced her to the spiky blonde who had seemed only interested in chasing Sephiroth at the time. Now that Sephiroth was gone, she had expected some change from the moody adult and whilst that did happen, Cloud had remained just as distant as before, "so where are Leon, Cloud, Aerith and Tifa anyways?"

"Oh they're showing a new guest around." Yuffie smiled innocently.

"And who would that be? Mr. Xanatos?" Riku asked.

"Nope, I know it may be hard to tell looking at the kid but," Cid smiled, "Leon's lady friend."

* * *

Luna had felt she had been in this situation before. Her dream involved a familiar dark twisting path which no matter how much she tried to find the exit to, it would always seem as if she hadn't moved much at all. She called out for Sora's name repeatedly though no answer was heard and then she turned around. The man in the black coat had been staring at her for quite some time it seemed. He did not even move a budge when Luna had turned to look at him. Then she took a few steps towards him, her movement robotic almost as if possessed. Her body felt like lead as she was attracted slowly towards that man who had in his gloved hands–

Luna at that point had woken up with a jolt managing to hit her head on the ceiling of the Gummi Ship from where she had currently slept, which had been the top bunk whereas Kupopo had been sleeping on the lower level.

As she had watched Sora walk away along with Herc to go to Olympus, she felt the need to stop him and tell him her dream. He had after all asked for her to let him know when she did have a particularly strange dream. At the same time however, she didn't want to appear selfish and delay their journey just because of a silly dream.

_A silly dream… which had felt very real. _Were Luna's thoughts. Luna and Meg had spent the next few hours annoying Phil much to their content as well as watching Luna practice her attacks on practice dummies filled up with straw and hay. Luna felt herself getting faster as she jumped from side to side quickly striking the dummies repeatedly.

"You're doing amazing Luna." Meg praised as Luna had decided to quit for the day.

"Ah it was no sweat. I think I might just be good enough to take on Wonderboy." replied Luna confidently.

"I'd like to see you try that. Herc's been training a lot more than you have. Not even Sora could beat him and he wasn't even using his full strength." Phil remarked.

"Ah come on Phil," She wrapped her arm around his neck, "I would never dream of taking on the mighty Hercules alone."

"And that tone tells me you probably would." Phil groaned.

Suddenly Meg's eyes seemed to light up on fire, "Hey, why don't you go it alone Luna? I'd like to see a fight between Sora and you. I'll be rooting for you all the way."

Luna seemed surprised about this idea, but the more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea. It would give her the chance to test her progress in full, she would be able to see where Sora was in comparison to her to give her something to work towards and the match would be sure to appeal to the masses.

"Really? Wait, you're actually considering this?" Phil asked flabbergasted.

"There's nothing wrong about it goat-boy. It was just a suggestion, she doesn't have to take it." Meg rolled her eyes before looking back at Luna.

Luna rubbed the back of her neck as she spoke, "Well it's risky but…"

"I think you should do it." A man said loudly standing just outside of the tunnel leading towards the lobby. Their attentions turned to him immediately. The man seemed to have an almost poetic elegance to him, with a pale complexion, a sort of feminine face and long silver hair that fell halfway down to his back. Put simply, he was looking quickly to be the very definition of a drama queen.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Meg looked up and down in disapproval at the man's attire, or lack even.

"The name's Kuja, and my aren't you a feisty young bird." said Kuja to Meg as he walked up to them slowly, seeming to emphasise every step as he moved. Eventually he was standing right in front of them and flipped his hair. Luna wanted to laugh out loud but she had found that her astonishment far surpassed her need to laugh.

"Is there any reason you're-" But Phil was cut off by Kuja who held his hand out.

"That's quite enough out of you," He said before twirling the fingers on his left hand around. Luna, Meg and Phil opened their mouths when they saw that Kuja had pulled a rose out from nowhere, "This is for the young beauty over there. What would your name be my rose?"

Luna blushed at the act, "Wait, what? I- My name is Luna."

"Ah Luna, this rose may symbolize many such things about you. It is up to you whether or not you let it wither and die." Kuja placed the rose in her already outstretched palms before flashing a look at Meg.

"And of course you my dear beauty, what would your name be?"

Meg huffed, "You really can't be serious about trying to flatter me. You'll have to try a lot harder than that to impress me."

"But of course," he turned to Luna, "I suppose I should let you know that Maleficent had ordered me to kill you rose."

"WHAT?!" Luna, Meg and Phil yelled in disbelief, Phil and Meg not doing it so much with the utterance of Maleficent's name as it was the order given.

Luna summoned her Keyblade, clutching the rose to the handle, "Maleficent? That annoying witch who used to annoy Sora and the others? Why didn't she come here herself?"

"Maleficent has her ways. But make no mistake, as do I. There's need to bother with that Keyblade," he raised his hands but Luna kept the Keyblade at the ready, "I wouldn't kill a pretty little thing such as yourself. I want a proper fight my dear rose. So I came here to let you know that I have no intention of fighting with you until the games begin."

"Wait, does that mean-"

"Yes, I will be entering the games. Let us both do our best." Kuja held his hand out for her to shake but instead Luna ignored it. She stood up straight and let the Keyblade disappear in her hands.

"You tell Maleficent that the next time she wants to kill me and Sora, that she should do it herself." Luna said.

Kuja flicked his hair with his hand before smiling, "Understood. Well, I'll be seeing you around then." With that he turned and walked out of the arena just as dramatically as he had come in.

"What an egotistical moron! He was half naked and did you smell the perfume that was coming off of him? I think he dedicated his whole life to collecting Chanel No.5 in his wardrobe set instead of searching for decent fashion sense." said an annoyed Meg pulling a disgusted face.

"I wonder what Maleficent's up to." said Luna unconsciously twirling the rose around between her fingers.

"Maleficent? Who's that?" Phil asked.

"I've never really met her. According to Sora though, she's made his, Donald and Goofy's life a pain." Luna told them.

"When did you first meet Sora? You too seem to connect really well with each other." asked Meg.

"I met him about a month ago. I… was involved in a game, it wasn't exactly a fair one either. But he saved me. I've been travelling with him ever since and it's hard to give a moment when I wasn't with him. I've listened to him talk about his other adventures and the friends he's made. I owe him a lot." Luna finished as she looked down at the rose.

"Sounds like a good friend. Make sure you're there to look after him Luna, not just from others but himself as well. " Meg said.

"Of course, I'll look out for him, I guess…" Luna answered slightly confused. She felt that considering all he had been through, Sora knew more about himself than she did about him, and in a way she hardly even knew much about herself.

Meg sensing some worries placed her hands on Luna's shoulder, "Don't think too hard on it. It'll come to you eventually the same way it did to me."

"Riiight…" Luna played along just for the sake of it. Meg's comforts that she would find the answer in time really wasn't that comforting at all, it just made her more curious, "You know what? It's about time I take a break anyway. Now I need something to eat. Who's with me?"

* * *

"_Why _did you let them get aaaa-waay?" Pete looked around multiple times in disbelief as he criticised Kuja's lack of action. He had returned from his fruitless escapades from Wonderland and already given the bad news to Maleficent. Suffice to say, she wasn't pleased at all and had considered blowing up in anger even though Pete had tried to justify the lack of a princess by saying that it was not his fault. He had considered it cowardly of Xanatos to leave him by himself to face the brunt of the evil fairy's anger especially when Xanatos had been placed as leader, though of course Xanatos had felt that his priorities were more important claiming that the Keyblade was something of great interest to him.

"Please do not spit. That is quite disgusting you know." Kuja said prudishly while fanning himself. Pete had no idea why considering it wasn't even that hot down in the Underworld.

"Still, you're a worse screw up than me. You had the chance to take 'em but ya didn't and you ran away instead." Pete mocked childishly.

"I must agree with Pete though his own performance was hardly one to admire," Maleficent showed no emotion as she spoke trying to control her temper, "Why did you not kill the girl when you had the chance?"

"That's quite simple. All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players," Kuja addressed poetically in front of an invisible crowd, "And what better a stage that the games itself? There the audience will witness the most spectacular match they have ever seen, and then be surprised by the twist ending. These Keyblade wielders are hardly immortal, though I do question the ability of the people they face."

"Hey, what's that supposda mean?" Pete growled angrily.

Kuja gave a smirk, "Exactly what it implies. All it takes is to push exactly the right buttons and one has already won. You have no such right to criticise my methods when yours have failed to work many a time."

"Ooh, burn. Okay, I like this guy. A little too flamboyant for my tastes but I can deal with that." Hades gestured to Kuja. He had just recently returned from Mt. Olympus.

"If you've seen what they can do you wouldn't be saying that." Pete argued with Kuja.

"From what I've seen of one of them. I'm not impressed. I think my magic can beat hers at least." Kuja replied honestly.

"Her? You mean the new girl travelling with Sora? Luna, was it? From what Abraxas has told me it seems the poor soul has lost her memory." said Maleficent.

"Why would it matter to me? When I'm done with her, her memory won't be the only thing she loses." Kuja laughed.

"Then that leaves that other twerp, just how are you gonna deal with him huh?" Pete asked triumphantly knowing that Kuja wouldn't be able to beat Sora.

"The rose is the key of course. Not even Sora will be able to drown out the loss of a friend. His anger will cause him to make mistakes and then he will fall." Kuja answered.

"You make it sound as if it's so easy. By all means, try but I wouldn't underestimate those Keyblade wielders if I were you." Maleficent said calmly seeming to find some humour in the Kuja's determination.

"And just in case you fail which is pretty likely, heh heh. Time for plan B!" Hades rubbed his hands together and looked into the green pool of harvested souls in his basin in the middle of the room.

"Right, because that worked last time." Pete shook his head before laughing.

"Ha ha ha, laugh all you want but I'm telling you now. _He_ was just the tip of the iceberg. Wait until you get a load of these guys…"

* * *

Sora quickly jumped off Pegasus and bolted straight through the gates into the coliseum entrance. The first thing he noticed was that it was quiet, which was surely normal. There didn't seem to be any unusual activity in the area decreasing slightly what seemed to be butterflies in Sora's stomach. Still Sora kept his guard up waiting for Hercules to catch up with him before proceeding through the door into the lobby.

"Sora!" Sora had heard Luna's voice before seeing her face as he was met with the force of her throwing herself onto him.

"Come on Luna. Lay off for a second so I can breathe." Sora blushed as he clumsily stood and let her hug him.

"You were gone for so long. Meg told me Herc usually returned in around a few hours so I got a little worried as the hours went by." Luna said quickly letting go of him.

"Woah, okay first of all calm down. Second of all, it was a few hours. The only reason we didn't come soon was because of… added weight," he lied before continuing on, "Finally, I'm the one who should be worried. We met Hades and from what he was saying it sounded like you guys were in danger."

"Well, there was this one guy who appeared. He seemed to know Maleficent but, he spared me." Luna explained feeling her denim skirt pocket for the rose.

"Huh? Why would he do that?" asked Sora.

"He said something about wanting to fight me in the games. He was probably also after you is my guess."

"I'm guessing this Maleficent has bad news written all over her." Phil joined in on the conversation.

"Pretty much and what's worse is I bet you she knows where the King- I mean Mickey is," Sora corrected himself abruptly, "Anyway Luna, forget about her for a sec. Guess who I met up on Mt. Olympus?"

Luna waited for the answer patiently, but when she saw that Sora wanted her to play the guessing game, she huffed in mock annoyance, "Oh don't you do this to me Mr. Keyblade Master. Out with it!"

"Aw and you say I'm not fun," Sora grinned before continuing, "You remember that girl we saw a week ago? Her name is Yeul."

Luna's mouth was left hanging open as she pulled a face of half-surprise half-amazement, "Oh you are kidding me. So she's actually there? What did she say?"

"Oh you're not going to believe this…"

"Really? You're talking to the girl who has met a talking doorknob, saved a bunch of puppies, helped to stop an arranged marriage and has travelled across the stars with many more to go. I think at this point I'm about ready to believe anything." Luna said giddily.

"Right, then Yeul's a seer who can see into the future." Sora told her waiting for her reaction. As he thought, her face had contorted into a half-laugh and half-confusion.

"Okay, maybe I do find that kind of hard to believe," She eventually regained herself and looked across the room, "See into the future? And make prophecies and things like that?"

Sora nodded, "I didn't believe it myself at first, but then I know that if time travelling can be accomplished, then so can this I imagine."

"Time travel?" Expecting her confusion, Sora explained the time he had gone back in time to when the construction of the castle had begun. He also explained Xehanort's reunion of his twelve other selves through means of time travelling though noticed Luna's disappoint when he added that you couldn't change anything through that means of time travel not to mention you had to leave your body behind.

"Sounds like it would be fun to go back in time." Luna sighed. Sora could understand why she had wanted to do it and he knew given the chance, he would probably take it as well.

"I hear you on that one. Anyway, Yeul couldn't fit on Pegasus so we had to come here without her." Sora explained.

Herc gave a brief clear of the throat before starting, "Let me try and ask my father again. I doubt he'll resist especially if you and Yeul are there, what do you say?"

"Thanks Herc! You're the best." Luna beamed ecstatically.

"So how's your training going so far Luna?" Sora asked changing the topic completely.

"Oh, that's right! I've been thinking Sora and…" Luna twirled around to stand in front of him, "I'd like to take on the games by myself if you don't mind."

"What? Why?" Sora asked though he felt he already knew the answer.

"It's just that I feel like the only way I can truly test out my abilities is if I go it alone. Not saying that I don't want you around but I want to see how far I can go by myself. I also, if I get the chance, want to fight you." Luna replied seeming to glance back and forth between him and Meg as she spoke.

As Sora listened to her reason, his subtle smile grew into an overwhelming chuckle causing Luna to raise an eyebrow in response, "It's just that I remember when I wanted to challenge Herc, I asked Donald and Goofy to sit out of the fight because I wanted to prove something to myself," Herc also chuckled as Sora referred to the time he challenged Herc solo, "Of course you can Luna and fighting you does seem like an exciting thing to do anyway. I can't wait to see what happens when you're not holding back…" Sora paused for a second, "I'll still beat you anyway." He added quickly.

"Oh you wish." Luna retorted in a similar manner.

Sora pulled down an eyelid and stuck his tongue out, "Race you to the arena!" With that he turned on his heel and sprinted off down the tunnel.

"Hey, that's no fair." Luna complained following behind in an effort to catch up to him.

Meg watched as the two headed off for the arena with a sincere look, "Kids. Look at them, so full of life. I wish I could have enjoyed life as much as them back then."

"You're talking like you're an old woman. You still have a lot of life left in you." Herc placed his hands on her shoulder allowing her to lean her head against his hand.

"I think I might be becoming one with the way I keep worrying about you and your fights wonderboy."

Arriving at the Coliseum, Luna shared with Sora the contents of her dream. Sora listened in closely as she broke down the dream and gave her own thoughts on it bit by bit.

"And you've had this type of dream before? Without the man in the black coat. Well, let's not worry about it too much, it's just a dream. Maybe you're just worried is all, you have been training a lot recently. It's not like it's real right?" Sora comforted her.

"That's what they usually say before they find out it is real." Luna joked but inside hoping that Sora had not actually jinxed her luck.

Sora and Luna did not have to do much before they would encounter Yeul again. Apollo had personally visited them on his chariot to inform them that he would bring Yeul to watch the games. They could wait for the inevitable meeting though. They did have training to do after all. Through the days, Sora and Luna practiced their magic and defensive skills with Sora having Luna prioritise her dodging skills rather than her guarding skills. Luna continued her training in the morning alone by going on jogs through Thebes and back. The occasional Heartless that popped up disrupting the town was also an additional way of staying on top. Eventually Luna, found herself getting sore and decided to take the rest of the days off until the tournament started biding her time by having fun with Hercules, Meg, Sora, Jiminy and Kupopo.

This left Sora by himself to mainly continue with practicing his own Gravity spell, which he was not too good at. He had been able to replicate a larger area of field to trap enemies in before when he had first started his journey but after he had woken up in the pod in Twilight Town had forgotten most of his magic. He had never tried to relearn Gravity until a few months ago prior to the defeat of the thirteen darknesses. Even then, he had relied on it very little and certainly wasn't as good with it as Aqua or Riku.

In the coming days before the tournament, Sora had also demonstrated the Reflect spell to Luna though he certainly did not expect to teach her it in time. For one, it was one of the most complicated spells he had learned. He could barely hold his up for a second before letting ago and he knew that he would need to go over the spell with Aqua when he saw her again. For now though he had told Luna to focus on making her curative magic more effective so she wouldn't have to waste potions.

Indeed Sora was so preoccupied with focusing on improving his own magic, that he hadn't noticed that the day of the games were finally upon them. By noon, Sora could hear the cheers and yells of the crowd as he sat in the lobby along with Luna.

"Okay, you two are in different divisions. Sora, you're A-block and Luna is B," Phil explained walking back and forth in front of them, "That's the best way that you'll face each other. As long as you win all you're matches, you'll eventually meet in the finals. Of course then after one of you win you fight Herc, capice?"

"Understood. So what's the competition like?" Luna inquired.

"The usual." Phil said flashing Sora a look of sympathy.

"Ah, Heartless." Sora answered for her.

"Why would Heartless want to enter the games?" A chuckle of surprise escaped Luna's mouth.

"No idea, but at least it gives us the chance to clear up some of Heartless roaming about in the area." Sora said getting up and stretching.

"There's also that other guy. I wonder which division he'll be in." Luna stated referring to Kuja.

"It's starting. Remember, especially you Luna, don't push yourself too hard. Know when to retreat and then come back when you're ready. It's time to see what you can do from all that training. Most importantly, two more words of advice for both of you: Don't die on me!" Phil finished as the cheering of the crowd became louder.

Sora was first. Giving Luna a reassuring look, he walked off down the tunnel. The tunnel split off into different directions which would lead to the different ward where Sora would fight. Sora followed the signs and turned left at the next split pathway. The tunnel seemed to twist and revolve around the coliseum itself. Sora had never been down this way before but as he emerged to the cheering of the crowd, he found the size and shape of this partition of the arena to be an exact replica of the other one.

Sora played to the crowd and waved with glee. He had never admitted it to Donald and Goofy, but he did enjoy the atmosphere presented at the Coliseum. He could only hope that Luna didn't have stage fright.

"You're all going down." Sora grinned as the first round of Heartless appeared. Summoning his Keyblade, Sora slide dashed into the Soldier Heartless before taking out the other Heartless with a few slices of the Kingdom Key.

"Record time I think, heh." Sora rubbed under his nose and smirked before holding his Keyblade up to the crowd.

Back at the lobby, Luna was standing by the entrance of the tunnel, awaiting Phil's go-ahead. Sora had been gone for fifteen minutes already with Luna having no doubt in her mind that he was doing amazingly well, especially if Heartless were involved. Now, her mind turned to Yeul.

_Where is she? Didn't that Apollo guy say he'd bring her around today? _Luna turned around and walked over to the other door. Opening it, she peered out scanning the area for signs of the girl but she saw none.

"Looks like it's your turn. Do me proud okay?" Phil said loudly as he came back from the tunnel. Luna closed the door and nodded before walking past Phil and down the short tunnel. Compared with Sora, she only had to keep heading straight before she saw a bright light up ahead. With the dark tunnel behind her, she proceeded onto the arena's paved floors and looked at the crowd around her. She figured one of the best chances of getting through the tournament was to play to the crowd's appeasement in the preliminary rounds which would hopefully end up encouraging motivation.

"Yeul!" Luna eyes widened as she quickly caught sight of the familiar girl sitting at the bottom of the stands to her left. She walked over and gave a smile at the girl who smiled back although rather shyly.

Hearing a sound all too familiar to her, she turned around in time to roll out of the way from a Large Body's jumping shockwave attacked. The crowd gave a chorused gasp of 'ooh' from the close call.

"Oh come on, I didn't even know the match had started. Darn Heartless just can't wait to be taken out." She growled to herself before she set off on a sprint with both arms behind her and her head forward. She dodged the oncoming projectiles of fire and lightning bolts that were sent at her before slicing through Red Nocturnes and Yellow Operas responsible, she turned on her heel and jumped backward casting Gravity on the Large Body. A small spherical field appeared from the Heatless' body, and while it did not flatten it as she had expected, it did slow the Heartless down considerably to the point where it seemed to be moving in slow motion.

_I'll definitely need to work on that_. Luna made a mental note before dashing in and repeatedly creating a ring of fire around her to take out the Large Body.

The crowd cheered with approval and Luna wasted no time giving the crowd the best smile she could possibly muster. Surprisingly, she found the smile to be genuinely happy rather than forced. The next two following matches were the rest of the preliminaries which Luna easily handled. She ended up walking back down to the lobby with a broad smile on her face, one that could not so easily be restrained. As she walked into the tunnel she stopped and stared at the man in front of her, and he stared back. He had a mysterious air about him and his possessed a strange calmness about him that seemed to make Luna trust him. His eyes were half obscured by silver rimmed and blue tinted sunglasses though his unchanging and simple smile told Luna that he wanted to talk to her.

"Nice weather today, isn't it?" The man said eventually throwing Luna off guard, "The name's Auron. I'm a… friend of Sora's."

"Auron, so you're the one Sora was talking about. Also how did you know I knew him?" Luna questioned Auron.

"I didn't. You just confirmed it for me. The best I could do was guess since you two wield similar weapons," Auron told her before walking up to her. He eventually stopped to the side of her, "I look forward to fighting you."

"So you're-" Luna stopped mid-sentence and watched as Auron closed his remaining eye, gave a slight chuckle and then walked off towards the coliseum arena.

"What's the deal with that guy?" Luna eyed his back as he walked off before shrugging and continuing on to the lobby.

* * *

**Hurray for the most awesome villain *cough* of all time, Kuja! I actually had not expected to put him in here but we needed a rather poetical character to fill the annoying jrpg character role and who better than monkey boy himself, except here he doesn't actually have a tail. Also, possibly an Auron fight? o.o**

**Also Xanatos expanding his corporation into Radiant Garden makes me think of some vs thread I once read: Who would you rather work for? Xanatos Industries, Stark Industries or Wayne Enterprises? I personally would pick Xanatos Industries since they look like they'd treat their employees right. **

**Next time, Olympus Coliseum comes to its conclusion, Yoichi Wada gets fired and I'm a happy camper. Come on Square, you can do better. **


	39. The Titans Unshackled

**A change of plans happened and I've decided due to this chapter already being quite long, that the finale will be next chapter. May mean the next chapter will be shorter than the average 4,000 I write or that it might be the same amount. I honestly have no idea.**

**Also we passed 200,000 words quite some time ago, around the last chapter. YATTA! Thank you to everyone who's been following the story so far and I hope you'll enjoy where this story goes next. Anyway, time for the 'almost' conclusion. **

* * *

Chapter 39

The Titans Unshackled

"You saw Auron? Where is he?" Sora asked quickly jumping up from the bench at the sound of the man's name.

"He went off to fight in the coliseum. Probably starting his own preliminary rounds. He seems… interesting I'll admit." Luna gestured with both her hands representing weighing scales.

"And he has the nerve to not even come and talk to me? 'How are you doing Sora?' Well maybe he wouldn't say that but at least acknowledge that I'm around." Sora said mimicking Auron's deep voice.

"Auron you say? So if he's entering the tournament then maybe I'll finally get my chance to face off with him. Uh, not that I've forgotten you guys. Man, this is gonna be a close one." Herc, also in the room, gave his own input.

"Don't get too excited wonderboy or you might just get someone injured in the process. Possibly, the woman sitting right next to you." Meg pointed out as Hercules flexed his muscles energetically next to her.

"Anyway, how did you do Luna?" Sora asked.

"Well, I've made it to the next rounds. Is that good enough for you?"

Sora shook his head childishly, "Nope. Need more details please."

"Okay then. I kicked some Heartless butt out there. They stood no chance!" Luna exclaimed giving Sora a high five, "Similar experience?"

"You know it!" Sora said just as excitedly. Another person soon came into the room giving both of them a happy smile, "Yeul!"

"You did great Luna! I'm sure you were the same Sora." Yeul clasped her hands together and expressed a happy smile. Somehow, and Sora didn't know why, but he sensed a tint of sadness along with it. It had been the same feeling he had gotten when he had met her back up on Olympus.

"Thanks Yeul," said Luna. She looked over to Sora and exchanged a nod with him before she reverted her gaze back to the girl of similar height to herself, "I've wanted to ask you something for a while now but I couldn't find you. I went to Thebes every day around the first week I came here, looking for you."

"Ah, so you did have an ulterior motive for all that running. Glad Phil isn't here to hear this." Herc said.

"It wasn't like I didn't enjoy it. Okay, maybe it was a bit of a chore sometimes-"

"A bit of a chore?"

"Okay, it was really annoying, but that's not the point," Luna corrected herself after Sora's interruption, "Back to my question. You don't happen to know anything about who I am by any chance, do you?"

Meg looked at Luna for a while before turning her head to Yeul expectedly. Luna did feel sorry for Yeul with all these faces awaiting her answer with bated breath. Maybe she should have talked with her outside along with Sora rather than having Herc and Meg along for the ride.

"I'm sorry. The only reason I know you is because you appeared in my dreams alongside Sora." Yeul eventually responded. Everyone sighed with disappointment though it was clear to see that it had hit Luna hardest.

"It's alright. Maybe I was hoping for a little more-"

"Just a little?"

"Okay, I was expecting her to say yes," Luna once again corrected herself, "But it's okay. Really."

"I really am sorry. But you are an interesting person Luna. I'm not sure why but there's something special about you that no looking into the future can tell me about." Yeul said. It was as if she was staring into Luna's soul with the way Yeul kept looking into her eyes.

Meg decided to change the topic, "So can you see into the future anytime you want or is it more complex than that?"

Yeul looked away from Luna to Meg, "The latter, at least as far as I know. I don't really know much about my own powers. Only that I serve one purpose, to record the beginning and end of time and of course, everything in between. I'm sure I wasn't around in the beginning however so I assume the ability is passed along somehow. I can't seem to remember how I received it though."

"Wait so are you saying you have the whole of time stored inside your head? Wouldn't that be dangerous?" Meg asked.

"Of course it would be. I don't store all of it. They usually are stored in objects which represent all of time. As soon as they do get stored however they're wiped from my memory so I will never be able to remember my own prophecy. I still do feel strange though, I…" Yeul was about to say something then shook her head, "Forget it. I wouldn't want to dampen the mood already and besides, you're next matches are starting."

"You're not dampening the mood. You've helped to clear up a lot of things actually. Thanks. Just one more question," Sora said, "Why does Hades want you? How did you even end up there for that matter?"

"I- I don't… remember," Yeul's eyes dropped to steering at her feet, "I just woke up there. I think… there was a man in a black coat there."

"Him." Sora's knuckles whitened as he clenched his fists almost too hard. Sora was starting to get the feeling that this guy was doing these things on purpose, as if to intimidate him. From destroying his home at Destiny Islands to being at the Emperor's Palace. Was it possible that he was still here? Suddenly Sora wanted to find out, if he was working with Hades and Maleficent, the perfect chance was right in front of him to take. He would need the Olympus stone again but that could be easily gotten. At the same time, he would be disqualified from the tournament if he left right now.

"Maybe we can hang out after the night is over with. See you soon Yeul." Luna said in an upbeat fashion in order to divert attention away from Sora.

Yeul blinked before smiling and then walking back down the tunnel. Luna turned quickly and snapped her fingers in front of Sora's face.

"What are you doing that for? I'm awake you know." Sora said.

"Not the point. I know you want to find out more about who that guy in the coat is and so do I but that does not mean you have to clamp up and start acting like you're in your own little world all of sudden every time he's mentioned." Luna snapped angrily.

"What? I wasn't-"

"Yes, you were," Luna cut in, "You were right in front of Yeul and you just looking to the ground all depressed and angry."

"Don't worry about it Luna. It's nothing. I was just thinking about some things," Sora lied and faked a smile before walking past her and looking off into the tunnel to avoid eye contact, "Besides I wouldn't let some guy get in the way between me and the competition. Let's have some fun."

"Okay guys, both of you are up in your divisions. Time to really get this show on the road." Phil yelled from the tunnel as he walked towards them. Sora could have kissed the Satyr if it wasn't for the fact that it would have been ridiculously strange both to him and the others.

Luna gave an annoyed look at the back of Sora's head. Taking one last look at Herc and Meg, she walked into the tunnel along with Sora heading past Phil in the process.

Sora soon started speaking once they had gotten some ways into the tunnel, "I'm sorry Luna. I know it sounds like I'm making excuses-"

"Which you are."

"Which I am, sometimes. But really, I'm not that worried right now." Sora said stopping just before the split path.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" Luna asked.

"What's there to talk about? It's not like I have vendetta against the guy or something. Please, just forget about it Luna." Sora placed a hand upon Luna's shoulder and looked into her eyes.

"Okay, I'll let it go. I just want you to know Sora that I'm always here for you and that you can talk to me without having to hold back if you want to. I know you haven't known me as long as Riku and Kairi but sometimes I get the feeling you'd even hold things back from them." Luna said.

"That has nothing to do with it Luna. Okay, I promise after the tournament is over we'll talk, about everything. I already feel as if I've known you as long as Riku and Kairi just from the time we've spent together." Sora told her smiling.

"Same here, maybe even longer." Luna whispered, a tear falling down her face.

"What do you mean by that?" Sora asked.

"By what?" Luna asked innocently.

"You know what. 'Maybe even longer'? What does that mean?" Sora repeated.

Luna rubbed her eyes, "I… don't know. It's like an expression isn't it? Like from the stories you've told me on the Highwind and in the other worlds of the places you've been to. What did you think I was getting at?"

"Oh, nothing. It was… something stupid." Sora laughed it off though Luna still wondered what he had been talking about.

"Anyway, I hope to see you in the final. If you encounter Auron, tell him not to be stranger for me?"

"Of course, see you in a few then?"

"You bet!"

* * *

Sora and Luna continued their domination of the arena and gaining the acceptance of fans as they battled their way through their opponents. The Heartless mostly were ones they had seen before with the exception of Hot Rods, Aeroplanes and Crescendos. The crescendos were the ones to dispose of quickly due to their ability to heal enemies as well as summon other monsters into the field. The Aeroplanes had not been much of a problem but the Hot Rods were ones to look out for especially. Even having fought them before, Sora had a difficult time finishing them off with the quick speed and evasion. Luna also learned that their tyres packed a punch when she took several hits while trying to attack them but failing miserably to do so. It took a while and a hefty load of battering but she soon figured out the trick which was to use Blizzard Magic to slow them in their tracks before taking them on up close. She hung her head upwards to face the sky and left her mouth hanging open to take in the air once she had finally finished off the round.

She dropped to the ground in the middle of the arena and placed her hands behind her as she allowed her face to absorb heat from the sun. She was starting to wonder how long she could keep this up and what her next opponents would be. Fighting more Hot Rods would definitely be a no-no and Assault Riders and Rapid Thrusters had the potential to be annoying, especially when they were in a group, heck any of the Heartless could be annoying when they were in a group so it hardly appropriate to discriminate them based on type. Of course a mixture would be absolute worst because she would have to keep a constant look out for the Heartless' patterns and constantly change her strategy to deal with them.

_The Heartless' patterns, he-he. First reaction, these Heartless are so going to kill me. The hundredth reaction, some of the Heartless are surprisingly predictable. _Luna played with the thought in her head. By some, she of course meant some but for those that she had worked out she could easily predict what the Heartless' next attack would be and then react in the appropriate measure.

The time for the next match was soon upon her and she wondered how Sora was doing in the other bracket. As she made to talk to Yeul who had been sitting in the same spot for a while she heard clapping coming from behind her.

"My my. Aren't you an interesting person, my rose? You may offer me a challenge yet." Kuja said walking up to her.

Luna gave a look of annoyance and spun around summoning her Dream Seeker, "Stop calling me rose, my name is Luna. Secondly, I suppose you being here isn't a part of Maleficent's plot right?"

Kuja flicked the bangs out of his face and continued onto the arena, "Maleficent believes you need to be stopped at all costs along with your other friend."

Luna looked over to Yeul. She wouldn't be surprised if Maleficent had also heard of the seer especially if she was working with the cloaked man, "And what do you believe?"

Kuja pulled out a rose and looked at it, "I'm just in this for some harmless fun." Kuja sprang at her and moved his hands upwards.

Luna hadn't expected what was about to happen, but if she had she probably still would not have moved for being dumbfounded at Kuja's uniform. She felt a large amount of ice jump up from the ground and encase her. She tried to move but it was no use so instead she positioned her Keyblade upright and created a ring of fire around her body melting the ice.

"So how have you tended to my rose since we last met?" Kuja asked.

"Ha, you think you can just attack me and then strike some random conversation? Are you out of you mad? Forget that actually, I'm having images of the Cheshire Cat grinning again which I really don't need at the moment." Luna shivered before jumping in to attack. Kuja ducked avoiding the swing but Luna turned on her heel and came back in for a vertical strike.

Kuja dodged to the left and placed his hand on Luna's chest. A fire projectile shot out from Kuja's hand and knocked her across the arena and onto the floor. Luna felt the searing pain in her chest but she tried her best to ignore it and tried to get back up.

"I take it you've forgotten about the rose then. How saddening." He mentioned melancholily.

"Heal." She said quickly allowing the Keyblade to cure the burn marks inflicted and the pain involved with it. She was glad he had not blasted a hole through her chest but she had not expected him to move that quickly.

Luna got into her battle position and breathed in deeply. She ran Phil's words over and over again in her mind.

"_You've gotta be calm and determined". _She remembered Phil saying as she awaited Kuja's next move, "_sometimes you gotta let the enemy come to you instead of the other way around"._ Kuja threw several more fireball projectiles at her but she guarded each one with her Keyblade. When Luna saw the motion of Kuja moving his arm upwards again she slide dashed out of the way to avoid being frozen by ice again. Kuja began to show annoyance and moved in. This was her chance. Kuja had taken it upon himself to turn his whole right hand into an ice shard and was aiming for a stab but Luna slid under just like practised with the obstacle course. She moved around quickly and tried to go for a Chain Rave but the attack clashed with hand of ice.

"Hmph, Luna you wilt too quickly." Kuja jumped back and shot a multitude of Holy spheres out of his hand. Luna jumped back repeatedly to dodge the oncoming balls but was caught in the explosion of the last one. Fortunately, she regained her balance quickly and started to run in circles around Kuja.

Luna eventually threw a fire projectile at Kuja but it was countered with one of his own. The colliding fireballs' explosion made enough of an impact to repel the two even further away from each other. Kuja threw two homing fireballs at Luna followed up by Holy Spheres causing Luna to run for her life. She tried to pull a fast one on one of the fireballs by taking a sharp right but the projectile soon regained its course and target.

Luna jumped high into the air in time to avoid the collision of both fireballs before landing back on the ground. She still had to deal with the Holy spheres which were nearing her position by the second, though they were not as fast as the homing fires.

Thinking quickly, not that she had any other chance, Luna used gravity magic on the two spheres. The two spheres dropped to the ground and exploded inside the gravity field summoned by the spell.

"You think quickly on your feet. Perhaps there may be some hope for you yet." Kuja covered his second arm in ice before rushing forward. Luna dodged, jumped and slid under each attack Kuja did, whether it was a stab or a vertical or horizontal swipe. At the same time, Luna could not get a hit in no matter how hard she tried. His arms covered both his offense and defense so whenever Luna tried to attack at his side, Kuja would simply block with the hand on that side and then proceed to try and attack with the other hand forcing her to duck.

Eventually Luna accidently stumbled backwards, causing the shard of ice on Kuja's hand to scrape Luna's cheek, drawing blood. She grilled her teeth against one another while backing away quickly. Soon enough, she withdrew her Keyblade.

"Hmph, giving up already? I thought you would've had more in you. Oh well. Time to finish this." Kuja said running in for the finishing blow. Luna smirked before running towards her opponent as well. Kuja went in for the stab but Luna dived under the man's arm and rotated her body at 180 degrees in the process so that she landed on her back when she hit the ground. Looking up at Kuja's back, she summoned her Keyblade and repeatedly shot fire projectiles over and over again with each one successfully hitting Kuja in his back.

Kuja yelled in pain as fire after fire hit him. Luna kept shooting until she ran out energy and panted of exhaustion. The damage inflicted from the magic had been severe indicated by the several scorch marks across Kuja's back. He turned around slowly with exasperation and looked at Luna.

_Are you serious? That didn't do anything? _Luna's worries grew as Kuja took a few steps forward to her and in response she backed away, not able to get up. One step. Two steps. This seemed to be taking an awfully long time. Three steps. Then Kuja dropped silently to the ground in front of her. There were several murmurs from the crowd and Luna wondered for a while if she had actually killed the guy. No, she soon judged, he had his eyes squinted shut and his teeth were chattering though quite subtly. He was in critical condition but certainly not dead. The crowd soon began to cheer though Luna ignored them, for she was much more wary of her own condition.

Using her Dream Seeker as support, she helped herself up before looking over to Kuja. She owed the guy this much for giving her an exciting battle, she had to admit. She summoned her Keyblade away and walked over to his body, still breathing quite heavily. Using one arm to lift him up, she moved his other arm, now reverted to its normal state, across her neck and dragged him over to the medics on the other side of the arena. She was all for sportsmanship even when the person involved was a guy who wanted to kill her.

"Thanks for the fight by the way. I had fun, even if it could've ended badly." Luna said though she was sure Kuja wasn't able to hear her. Arriving at the tent by the door which presumably led to the visitors' entrance, she got him into the bed with the assistance of the medics before pulling out a slightly bent rose from her pocket and placing it on the bed table beside him.

"I'm so sorry." She said before walking out of the tent. She didn't want to see anyone injured because of her own desperation. That applied to her opponents as well. She admitted she had gone overboard with her vicious attack and she could defend herself in no way except for saying she was scared. She felt ashamed, almost as if she had resorted to using dirty tactics to win. But if she were to survive did she really have any other choice?

She joined the crowd, too tired to stay in the lobby and watched as the rest of the warriors fought. They seemed to handle the Heartless quite well and when they didn't they were quick to throw in the towel and run for their lives, a wise choice instead of upholding their egotistical pride. The most interesting fights were always the ones with two humans fighting each other however. With the whole one versus one gimmick, Luna wasn't sure how the Heartless were allowed to be fighting in groups, even if groups were allowed, most chose to fight on their own.

"How do Heartless even enter these tournaments anyway?" Luna questioned suddenly as she sat alongside Yeul while watching a combatant and the man she had met earlier, Auron, fighting it out.

"I've never really been to one of these before so I'm not sure." Yeul answered.

"Well me neither but it just seems weird doesn't it? What could the Heartless have to gain from entering these tournaments anyway?" Luna asked.

Yeul shrugged, "Maybe the hearts? They're after people's hearts right? So it makes sense they'd go after the strongest available."

Luna nodded, "And the best place to do that would be at a coliseum. Right. Now it makes sense. What doesn't though is what they do if they win these tournaments. Oh dear, now I'm having thoughts about a Heartless jumping into the air while lifting a cup." Luna placed her head in her hands while Yeul giggled.

* * *

Meanwhile Sora was having a relatively easy time in comparison, quickly clearing up his fights. As a man ran up to attack him, sword raised, he quickly dodged to the left and brought the Kingdom Key upwards knocking the warrior onto the ground.

"Man, I am cleaning it up over here. Give me a challenge at least Phil!" Sora smugly said as he spun his Keyblade around in Cloud-like fashion. He certainly had the advantage above others, and while most of them were fighting for things such as glory or immortality among other heroes, he was just there to have fun. He was hardly taking things seriously and purposely yawned and flexed his muscles as if it was just another ordinary day for him. At this rate, he could certainly see himself facing off against Luna, as he was quite interested in how far his friend had progressed compared to when he was starting out. Even without fighting her though, he could see that she had developed her skills and technique a lot.

_Hope she's worked on her strike raid skills though. _Sora chuckled remind himself of the many times she had missed her targets and even one of the times when she had to duck because she could not catch the Keyblade with the speed it was going.

"I have a few minutes until my next match. May as well check up on how Luna's doing," He told himself before turning around, "What do you want Hades? I don't have time to mess with you."

The fiery fiend rubbed his palms together and laughed, "Oh come on kid. What did I ever do to cause such aggression? It's not like turned a friend of yours into a submissive or something or destroyed an entire coliseum."

"I didn't know you had short term memory because the way I remembered it, you did both of those things." Sora growled.

"Maybe I did. But the Underdrome never would have made its successful comeback without you kid." Hades said.

"What are you talking about? I didn't open the-" Sora was about to say when he recalled back to his previous adventures when trying to take down the Organization. He had used his Keyblade on a Keyhole to unseal Meg, but had it also opened the Underworld coliseum in the process? "Wait, are you saying? Argh, I called myself an idiot back there!"

"Heh, funny how things come around isn't it? But anyway, I've come here for a little proposition, whaddya say?" Hades asked.

"I say no," Sora said simply, "Now how about you answer my question? Do you know the guy in the black coat?"

"Hahaha, it doesn't work like that. Maybe this will convince your mind to see things my way once in a while." Hades clicked his fingers and a trapped Megara appeared to his side. Her body seemed to be held together as if by an invisible snake coiling around her skin.

"Sora!" Meg screamed.

"Meg!" Sora said back just as desperately, "What do you want Hades?"

"Well my first thought was your imminent deaths but that can wait later. For now, I want you to bring the seer over to me. If you don't you're little friend here will find herself drowning with the remnants of the dead. Not exactly the way I would want to go out, wouldn't you agree?" Hades smiled craftily. He already knew he had Sora wrapped right around his finger.

"I… I can't do that. I won't sell out a friend for another friend." Sora said solemnly.

"Ooh, not sure you have a choice this time kiddo. Here's another incentive that might just change your mind," Hades said and then stared at him for what seemed to be a lifetime. Hades looked around impatiently and then behind him and looking up at the sky, "I said here's another INCENTIVE that might change your mind."

The ground soon gave a terrible tremor and the crowd screamed in fright. Sora and Hades almost stumbled. After the first earthquake another, more powerful one soon followed.

"Better late than never I guess," Hades remarked as a giant gargantuan creature appeared hovering over the coliseum. Sora had briefly seen the same creature on one of the pottery drawings back at Thebes, "Come here boy. Well then Key-boy, meet the mighty Rock Titan. Hope he doesn't stamp on your parade. Heh heh, get it? Stamp on your- Oh forget it. Anyway, he's not the only titan I've summoned here today. So now you have the weight of an entire world on your shoulders all for the sake of one little girl. That should give you an impetus for action."

"You dirty rotten-"

"Please, I'm already praised enough as it is. But I don't mind hearing overarching leader once in a while," Hades said before disappearing along with Meg, "Your choice hero. Think about it, but not too long 'kay?"

Sora was immediately assaulted from all sides and barely had time to think as many of the crowd pushed past him in an attempt to leave as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, Sora was heading in the opposite direction for the tunnel. All he could think about at the moment was getting to Luna. The Rock Titan brought its hand down and smashed through the coliseum walls. It seemed to be taking its time, probably as a request by Hades to allow Sora time. Even so, this was the second time the coliseum had been ravaged. That constant thought was also running through his mind though not as much as finding Luna.

A man pushed Sora's shoulder at such force that it caused him to spin around for several seconds. Suddenly his view could not adjust to the chaos around him and he had no idea where the tunnel was. He decided to pursue a random direction. Heading to his left while still in a dizzy state, he bumped into several unknown people along the way. The third tremor shook causing Sora to lose his balance and tumble over.

"Need to find Luna. Need to find Luna." He kept telling himself trying to get up. Suddenly he felt this immense stabbing pain in his left hand. Someone had stepped on it causing him to grit his teeth in pain. Sora, mustering up enough strength, bit into his sleeve and got up, pressing on. Pushing past the last of the crowd, he found himself walking through the dark tunnel. Still biting on to his sleeve, Sora leaned against the wall and started off into a run, turning each corner where he didn't feel a wall.

"Sora!" He heard Luna's voice up ahead but was too absorbed in biting his sleeve to look up at her properly. Finally dropping his sleeve from his mouth, Sora winced and looked up to find Luna running up to him along with Yeul.

"He wants Yeul! Hades!" Sora almost hissed.

"Are you alright?" Luna asked concernedly.

"Well someone sure did stamp on my parade alright." Was all Sora said.

"So what are we going to do about those monsters? There's also Heartless roaming about all over the place." Yeul informed him.

"Great, always one step behind. What are those monsters anyway, I've fought one of those before." Sora said.

"They're titans, there's only one of their kind out there so the one you fought was probably the same one. You remember when Athena talked about the Titan War? Well that's probably one of them. I'm not sure why it would be working with Hades though. As far as I know the titans despise the gods." Yeul said.

"Well, if Hades promised them something then I can see why they'd want to work alongside him. Anyway, let's get to Herc and then we can figure things out. Hades also has Meg." Sora said before turning back and continuing on, the pain of his trampled fingers residing.

"Oh no, let me take a wild guess, he wants Yeul right?" Luna asked, "You're not thinking of handing her to them are you?"

Sora turned around, "Of course not. Have a little faith in me Luna. But I am going to the Underworld. Somehow." It had not yet crossed his mind of how he was going to get there. The portal he had gone through to get there before was now gone and worse yet, he knew that he would be heading into a trap. He didn't have the Olympus Stone meaning he would be at the mercy of Hades.

The three finally reached the lobby to find no one there. Progressing out into the entrance, a mysterious sight caught their eyes. In the middle of the area was a large staircase going downwards.

"A gift from Hades no doubt," Yeul said showing little to no concern, "Sora, I'll go to Hades. If it means saving this place then-"

"Nope, sorry." Sora interjected looking behind him at the giant Rock Titan. Hades had said something about other titans being unleashed.

"But-"

"We're not giving you up so don't even think about it Yeul. We don't betray our friends." Luna stated firmly.

"Friends?" Yeul almost choked at the word, "You consider me as a… friend? But I don't get, we haven't even met properly for a day and I'm a friend to you?"

"That a problem? Does there have to be a certain time? Our hearts are already connected Yeul, and mine is telling me that you're a friend." Sora said giving her a grin.

"I- Maybe you're right. But, don't I still have a say in the matter? As a… friend." Yeul said.

Jiminy quickly popped out of Sora's hood, "Think of us as just steering you away from the wrong choices then, like a conscience."

Yeul blinked at the cricket, "And who would you be?"

Jiminy took of his hat and scratched his head, "Gosh, you know Sora and Luna but not me? Well, we'll just have to rectify that then won't we? Cricket's the name, Jiminy Cricket at your service."

They were suddenly interrupted by a blast up ahead behind the Coliseum entrance walls, soon followed by Kupopo falling from the sky and landing right next to them.

"Kupopo, are you alright?" Luna asked scooping the moogle up into her arms.

"Hercules kupo. He needs your help." Kupopo said before soon fainting. Sora, Yeul and Luna rushed towards the gates and opened them to see the problem. Herc could be seen off in the distance battling the Ice Titan and the Lava Titan. Even further in the distance, a giant tornado plagued the city of Thebes.

"Luna, you help Herc. I'm going off to the Underworld to take on Hades." Sora decided.

"And this is a perfect example of a wrong choice," Luna looked over to Yeul before turning back to Sora, "I won't allow you to take on Hades by yourself, we do this together."

"We don't have time to argue this Luna, Herc can't handle all of these guys by himself. Plus there's still the Rock Titan in the coliseum. If Hades is controlling these titans, then if I stop him that might just stop the titans as well."

"'Might' you say, but how do we know it will definitely," Luna groaned, "You don't have to go around trying to be a hero you know."

"If you're worried I'm going to, well, you know, then don't worry. I promised you I would get you back to your world and that's exactly what I'm going to do." said Sora smiling. What Luna really wanted to do was punch the smile off his face for being so over-confident but before she could decide whether or not to do so a figure appeared behind Sora.

"You!" Luna exclaimed simply watching as the man smiled.

"Don't worry, he won't be alone. I'll be his guardian if you want." Sora turned around to see Auron just in front of the gates they had come from.

"You have got to be kidding me. You have the nerve to show up in front of me now of all times. You're unbelievable you know that?" Sora folded his arms and looked on in disbelief.

"Sorry, didn't know I had babysitting duty on my schedule," Auron said walking past him and up to Luna, "I will take care of him, that I promise."

Luna looked over to Sora before sighing, "I guess. It seems like Sora really trusts you anyway. Just make sure to bring him back without a scratch okay? Or I'll probably scratch your eyes- I mean eye out."

Sora's eyes met with Luna and then he understood. Luna could have cared less about finding her world if Sora wasn't there to experience it with her much like his own desires to show her his islands. He had been selfish the entire time only thinking that Luna would never want to come with him if she had already found her world, she would, she would even go so far as to prolong the journey on purpose if it meant staying with Sora. Her main priority wasn't finding her world, it was protecting Sora almost as if she felt indebted to him for something.

"Thank you Luna." He mouthed silently. Luna seemed to get what he was saying a smiled compassionately.

"I can't help but wonder how were you planning on getting through the Underworld without the Olympus stone?" Auron enquired.

"The Olympus what?" Luna quizzed.

"When you enter the Underworld, your powers are drained. It is effectively Hades' dominion so you can't do much without the power of the stone which the gods have," Auron explained, "You didn't tell her?"

Luna now felt the need to punch Sora once again, "You actually were planning to go down without your full power? And without me? Are you a moron?"

"I was about to tell you that, it just kinda slept my mind for the moment." Sora defended with an unconvincing lie. It was not enough to quell Luna's anger.

"Well before the drama begins, I think we should get this problem out of the way first. Luna, you know what to do. As weird as it sounds, the safest place for the crowd in the Coliseum is inside." Auron said.

"With the giant rampaging monster? Notice that Auron? It's pretty hard to miss." Sora pointed out.

"I've already taken care of that along with the flying horse. We bring Yeul back to the coliseum and she hides with rest of the crowds, then we go down into the Underworld and confront Hades." Auron explained to Sora.

"And we're supposed to do that how? You brought up the point of the Olympus Stone but we don't have- wowza, how did you get that?" Sora stared questioningly at the object in Auron's palm.

"I have my ways," Auron smirked before placing the stone in his pocket, "This is where we part ways. We'll be taking Yeul. Hurry to Hercules before it's too late."

Luna nodded and headed off up the hill. Sora couldn't help but think about not getting his chance to fight her, though that hardly mattered and besides, they could do it anytime. And here he was with a man he wanted to challenge just as equally.

"Shall we proceed?" Auron asked before placing his hands on the bars of the gate and pushing forward.

* * *

**The duo of Sora and Auron working together at last. Also Luna raises a good point, how do the Heartless even enter these cups? I can't imagine them signing their name. The fact that they had group names as well in the Underdrome in KH2 is pretty hilarious. **

**Totally off topic but I've been catching up with Game of Thrones lately. It's a great show so far but only on season 1 right now. It's hard to say that I don't have ideas swimming in my head for this story right now that stem from that series. There you go, related it to KH and all in a neatly wrapped bow. **


	40. Journey's Requiem

**Okay, I have no idea how this happened but somehow I ended up writing 8,500 words for this chapter. I would have added more as well if I wasn't too conscience about making it longer. And here I was last chapter saying it would be about equal to 4,000 or less. Me and my big mouth.**

* * *

Chapter 40

Journey's Requiem

"So let me get this straight, you took down a giant rock monster with your only assistance being a flying horse?" Sora had to run Auron's account by him again as he and Yeul looked up at the now deformed Coliseum and to the left, the Rock Titan's corpse covered in debris. Also somewhere in the coliseum would be possibly hundreds of people possibly praying to the gods that they and their family would be alright.

Personally, Sora couldn't believe that some parents would take their children along with them to witness combatants possibly dying but alas, he had been proven wrong rather quickly once had entered the arena. It wasn't as if it was the struggle tournament in Twilight Town either with two both competitors using toy foam bats. Still, it didn't matter now because according to Auron at least, this place was going to be much safer than Thebes.

"Is it really that hard to believe?" Auron said before walking past Sora heading for the coliseum, "Yeul, you join the others further up."

"How do you know Yeul anyway? You weren't with us when we were talking to her." Sora questioned.

"How do you think she got to Mt. Olympus? I offered to protect her on the way there. I didn't climb the mountain if that's what you're thinking. We met one of the gods on the way there and he picked her up on his chariot." Auron answered.

_Apollo. _Sora guessed before looking over to Yeul, "Okay Yeul, you wait here for us. Yeul?" The girl was acting rather weirdly as if she were conflicted about something.

"I'm… so sorry." She whispered before running off down the newly created stairs.

"Yeul! What's she doing?"

"Isn't it obvious? She thinks that by giving herself to Hades that will solve this problem." Auron explained.

"And if anything Hades will probably continue with this anyway. We've got to catch up to her!" Sora yelled and ran after the girl with Auron following behind quickly. They stairs seemed to go on forever as Sora and Auron journeyed deeper and deeper into Hades' residence. Yeul had seemed to have gone a considerable length considering there was little sign though Sora and Auron weren't exactly looking down either. As far as they were concerned, there was nothing but bottomless green awaiting them as they continued on.

"So tell me, why do you have the Olympus Stone?" Sora asked in between breaths as he jogged down each step.

"It's a long story, still interested in hearing?" replied Auron.

Sora furrowed his brow, "It's not like we have anything better to do right now."

"Right… well it was a long time ago. I was young back then-"

"You were young back then? What a surprise!" Sora gave a sarcastic smirk.

"If you want the story then don't interrupt," Auron warned before continuing, "I decided to try and climb Mt. Olympus. I can hardly remember the reason as to why, glory maybe? It seemed like a foolish thing to do at the time but I gave it a shot. To be the first person ever to reach the summit of Olympus and be hailed as a hero, that was enough for me. I wasn't one to believe in things such as gods at the time." Auron reminisced.

"You can't be serious? You actually tried to climb the mountain? Did you succeed? How long did it take?" Sora asked in astonishment, so many questions whirling around his head that he didn't know where to begin with dissecting this revelation.

"My journey lasted several days. At times, I was even thinking about giving up," Auron stopped running and Sora along with him, "It was as if I had died several times during those days, then came back to life immediately after. My resolve was the only thing pushing me forward, keeping me up. Those who usually tried to climb the mountain would soon meet their ends, but I stood up above those who were dead. It encouraged me further to push on. I would soon come to find a friend in death as I constantly met those who had failed in their conquest."

"A friend in… death?" Sora repeated. Auron stared on randomly into space before starting off at a walking pace. Sora tried to catch up with him but it seemed Auron was always one step ahead.

"There were people I wanted to protect though I hadn't known it beforehand. Conquering death would mean my survival and instead of seeking glory I set my sights on another task, surviving. I'd like to think it made me a better person, but I've done terrible things in the past after climbing that mountain. I wasn't able to keep my promise, and ran away like a coward. I soon reached the top and made my way into the hall of the gods. No one was there for whatever reason. The only thing that caught my interest was something lying in the middle of the floor." Auron held out his hand, the Olympus stone encompassing most of the space in his palm.

"Huh, I guess they have more than one of those then," Sora nodded in understanding before his eyes widened, "Wait, so that makes you a thief then?"

"That's a nasty word for it but I suppose that is what I am. I was a beggar training to become a warrior but instead became a coward. My life in a nutshell." Auron summarised.

"You're no coward. Whatever it was that happened I'm sure your friends understood. Plus you helped me, Donald and Goofy when we needed help. No sir, you are definitely no coward." Sora gave a proud and firm nod.

"I suppose those were words of comfort but they ended up sounding rather corny instead. Still, thanks." Auron said dully.

"So that's what Hades had against you? With the doll and all?" Sora remembered back to his visit of the Underworld when Auron's will had been possessed.

"Hmm," was all Auron said before looking to Sora, "now answer some of my questions, if you will. How long have you and that girl been together?"

"Luna," Sora amended for him before continuing on, "And it's been over a month now, why?"

"She seems to take care of you more than you yourself." Auron chuckled.

"Oh come on. I admit, maybe I was rash in going to the Underworld alone without and Olympus Stone but there's no need to bring it up again. I feel ashamed that I even thought of the idea to be honest. Thinking of not just Luna, but my other friends never seeing me again because of some stupid mistake I made isn't exactly the best feeling in the world." Sora said.

"I sympathise." Auron said knowing the feeling full well. After several more minutes of walking the two finally reached the Underworld entrance, an area surrounded by the River Styx and just up ahead, the Underdrome, the land of the dead's version of the Coliseum up above. Their current path led them to two doors, one which went to Hades' lair and the other to where Sora had saved Meg before.

Sora noticed two familiar and devilish faces up ahead by the boats, "Hey, you two! Have you seen a girl come by here?"

Pain and Panic looked up in fright and quivered at the sight of the two. Pain soon snapped out of this however and slapped Panic on the back.

"Hey, what are we getting frightened for? We have the big guy on our side!"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Heh heh, Cyclops! Come out, come out wherever you are!" Panic called out. The two were immediately squished by a giant ogre type creature falling from the sky. Pain and Panic just managed to stick their heads out in dizziness and pain.

"Where did that come from?" Pain groaned as he desperately tried to slide out from under the Cyclops' stomach.

"Not us you big meatloaf, them!" Panic squealed in a high pitch voice.

"Ugh!" The Cyclops scratched its head before getting up and peeling off the two minions who fled after they straightened themselves out.

"Wait a second!" Sora yelled trying to follow them but Auron outstretched his arm to block Sora.

"We have bigger problems to deal with first, and I mean big." Auron pulled out his sword and got into his battle stance staring up at the large Cyclops. Sora summoned the Keyblade and also readied it with both hands.

* * *

Luna shot several fire projectiles as she arrived in order to divert its attention away from Herc.

"Luna! Where's Sora?" The muscle bound hero asked turning around to meet her.

Luna threw Herc a potion and spoke as he downed the contents, "He's catching up with an old friend. Right now though we need to deal with these things."

"Yeah, you're right. What about Meg and Phil. Are they safe?"

A pang of regret was felt from the teen as she repeated the question in her mind. Should she tell Herc about Meg? No, the worst thing possibly was for him to lose his focus right now, and besides, she was sure that Sora and Auron would rescue Meg in time.

"Yeah, they're fine." Luna lied before quickly turning back to the two titans in front of her. The Ice Titan on her right and the Lava Titan on her left, "Ice and Fire. Fire and Ice. Well, might as well try." She murmured to herself. Luna used a mixture of Ice and Fire to hit the two enemies with their opposing elements and keep them off bay while Hercules went in physically to smash through the shards of ice produced by the Ice Titan.

"Time to call in a little help." Hercules told her before whistling loudly. The Lava Titan smashed down its fists releasing its hot molten lava in the process. The usually bright green and perky scenery now became lifeless and unpleasant to the eye. Luna was dragged back quickly by Herc as he grabbed hold of her and jumped away from the lava.

"You could have at least warned me before you swept me away on my feet." Luna squealed, still over Herc's shoulder as he ran past the obstacles of Ice in his way and slid down a large hill to avoid a fiery blast.

A horse-like screech could be heard above them and the two looked up to see Pegasus flying down and eventually landing next to them. Herc set Luna on to the ground and got onto the horse.

"You planning on staying down there?" Herc commented wittily.

Luna flattened herself to the ground and snaked her way over to the top of the hill to watch the two Titans. They appeared to be waiting for the two to appear from their cover. The idea of acting as a distraction so Herc could finish them off and possibly using their own elements against them crossed her mind. The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea, though she had a theory a major reason was because Sora's recklessness was rubbing off on her.

Luna looked back to Hercules, "Actually, yeah, I am." Luna sprang up from the ground and sprinted over the hill alerting her presence to the Titans.

"Luna! What are you-" Herc stopped abruptly when Pegasus gave a confident cry, "Okay, if you think so, let's go and help her out." Seeming to get the gist of what Luna was trying to do, Herc lifted off along with Pegasus gaining altitude by the second. More Ice shards popped up from the ground but Luna cut and jumped right through them, disregarding her ability to dodge the rising icicles. The Ice Titan created several smaller shards and sent them hurtling at a rapid speed causing Luna to stand her ground and guard deflect the shots with her Keyblade at the Lava Titan instead who groaned in pain. The monster started swatting its hands around frantically, leaving enough space for Luna to duck under the molten arm and manoeuvre to the back.

Looking around both Titans she could see Pegasus increasing its height and probably getting ready for an attack. She performed a strike raid throwing the Keyblade at the Lava Titan to get its intention though in hindsight that may not have been the best of ideas. The Keyblade seemed to melt into the brute's body until it was gone.

"Right, bad idea." Luna accepted and gulped before ducking down low to avoid another Ice Shard coming at her. The two both then did something that Luna had completely unexpected. She had contemplated on using fire and ice against one another but it was also true that they worked quite well together. The two surrounded Luna and in almost perfect synchronisation, fired of jets of lava and ice at her defenceless form.

"And this is why you don't try to handle things by yourself." Luna was swooped up by Pegasus and Hercules in time to avoid the collision.

"Thanks Herc. Phew, that was a close one." Luna sighed releasing the breath she was storing as she awaited her judgement. Luna held her hand out at the Lava Titan, waited and hoped. Eventually the Keyblade flashed back in her hands though a little too hot to handle and she summoned it away quickly to avoid getting burnt.

"More than close I would say. At least let me know what your plan is next time." Herc said seriously, the first Luna had really seen him act in such a way.

Luna apologised quickly before Pegasus swooped down towards the titans and circled them. Summoning her Keyblade once again, Luna could feel the still slightly warm handle in her hand, but fortunately it was not nearly as hot as it had been a few moments ago. Pegasus soon began his assault on the Ice Titan in particular, moving around, above and under to avoid its attacks while Luna and Herc struck at the Titan's body.

Eventually the Titan could not cope with the copious amount of attacks and tripped falling on the Lava Titan. The solid and usually contained state of the Lava Titan soon gave way into a liquefied substance smothering the Ice Titan in the process and producing a great amount of steam which surrounded the entire area.

"We did it!" Luna cheered almost falling off from the excitement.

"Not exactly. We still have two more to deal with." Herc reminded her.

"Oh, Auron already took care of one of them. The one back at the coliseum." Luna told the demi-god.

"I wouldn't count on it. The titans aren't exactly creatures that can be defeated so easily. They're like the gods up on Olympus. My father was only able to seal them away." Herc informed.

"So then what about these ones? Are you saying they aren't finished?" Luna asked exasperatedly pointing to the steam below her.

"Probably. So we need to do our best in order to lure these guys away from the town. You with me?" Herc clarified.

"To be honest I'm a bit more afraid of flying at these heights than the Titans." Luna remembered back to her flight with Sora across the maze of Wonderland in particular. At the time it had not been a joyful experience with Luna clinging to Sora and closing her eyes tightly. Pegasus was slower but would sometimes do these sharp drops in height that would cause her to stomach to churn violently and cling to Herc for dear life. The two flew through the darkened and rainy sky nearing closer to the Wind Titan, Stratos.

* * *

Sora dodged to the left of a punch thrown by the Cyclops, jumped up and brought his Keyblade down in an arc striking the giant down.

"Hey Auron, you remember that move we used to do right?" Sora suddenly called over to the assertive warrior.

"Ah, bushido? Of course." Auron chuckled before running at the fallen Cyclops along with Sora. The two stood side by side before slashing in a 360 degrees circle around them, hurting the Cyclops in the process. They soon started to alternate between Shooting Star, a move where Sora and Auron spun around with their weapons dealing quite a bit of damage and Banishing Blade, where they leapt up and struck downwards. They finished up with the Spiral move, in which they smashed their respective weapons together and then spun them around with enough force that created a whirlpool to lift the Cyclops up and flying into the River Styx.

"Now what would you do without me? You know we'd make a pretty good team. Want to consider coming along with me and Luna?" Sora offered and he was actually quite serious much to what his face showed to be the contrary. Auron travelling along with them would be a great asset in their journey. Then again he had second thoughts too. It felt that by doing this it was as if he were trying to replace Donald and Goofy. He knew that was not his intentions yet he still could not help but feel that way.

"So only now are you taking my offer for me to be your guardian? Hmph, can't say I'm interested though." Auron replied causing Sora to jump up in surprise.

"What? But why?" Sora questioned desperately, "I mean, is there something you have to do here?"

Auron stared at Sora for the longest time before speaking, "I have no reason really. I'm just…tired of fighting," He walked over to the blue door where Pain and Panic had gone into, "I don't need to travel with you to see the hardships you've faced. I don't need to be a seer either to tell that your journey will be one full of battle. The way you fight the Heartless, is like you've done it a million times over. Like it's a normal routine to you. I'm not interested in feeling that way ever again. Let's continue."

What Auron said was to stay with Sora for possibly a while to come. He knew Auron was right, that fighting the Heartless, protecting the realm of light had become such a normal thing for a 16 year old boy whose focus probably should be on spending time with his friends, going to school among other things. Yet, he was far from normal as much as he didn't want to admit it. Even though he had not be chosen to wield the Keyblade as opposed to Riku and Kairi, he had still played a major part in saving his friends along with the data Ansem the Wise had placed inside him. Worse yet, another person had been forced into what seemed like a never-ending conflict, Luna. A girl who suffered from loss of memory and her own world but at the same time wanted to see the stars. That was really all she deserved too, a normal life. Instead, she had been thrust into responsibility of wielding a Keyblade and protecting the worlds with the threat of the Heartless on top of that. Sora didn't want her to have to share the same experiences he did, most of all he didn't want her to get used to all the fighting either.

Sora followed Auron without saying a word into the Cave of the Dead. Who wanted to say something to Auron about him being tired but he couldn't say anything, not because he didn't have anything to say but because the words simply would not come out of his mouth no matter how hard he tried. Perhaps Sora was tired too. Perhaps that was why he wasn't saying anything. No, he couldn't afford to just stop fighting the Heartless. He didn't even know why he was questioning it, when there were people out there who needed his help.

_Will the day come when this battle, born of confusion, will end? _Sora found himself remembering a passage he had read a long time ago from a book in Yen Sid's tower, _I can't afford to think like that. As long as I have the Keyblade, I have to keep fighting to make this world a better place._

He remembered his words to Luna when they back at the Dalmatians' estate, "_Don't think of the Keyblade as an obligation_," He had said, "_It's not as if a Keyblade Wielder isn't allowed to make mistakes_." How could he preach such things when he hardly felt that way himself? While the saving of those that had endured hurt had brought a sense of happiness to him, it had left him with a scar on his heart, something invisible and while light still meaningful enough to have an impact. He had not told anyone of course about this and he hardly felt the need to either. It wasn't as if it affected his personal life. He just found it ironic that he had said it and not realised the falsehood in his words at the time, though he hoped that 'lack of obligation' still attributed to Luna. He was a different matter.

Sora and Auron battled their way through the hordes of Heartless until the entered the Cave of the Dead Inner Chamber. Much like it had been last time, it was completely devoid of enemy activity allowing Sora and Auron to take a quick break. They would need it in case of any more excursions that they would come across on their way to Hades' Chamber. Not resting for too long with the thoughts of the whole world being in danger implanted in their heads, Sora and Auron pressed on to the Valley of the Dead. It was a one way trek with only the Heartless standing in their way.

"You hear that?" Auron spoke as he finished off the last Heartless. Sora confused at Auron's sudden remark, looked around the room and listened in carefully. Sure enough he could hear singing, and it was coming from below.

"The requiem of the dead. They certainly aren't pleased," Auron said as he and Sora peered over the edge of the cliff to see the green pools of ghostly apparitions swimming collectively in a current, "The dead are not silent. They continuously flow along the river, stuck in limbo, made to grieve for all eternity. An endless spiral."

"There's nothing we can do about that?" asked Sora giving puzzling looks.

"To disrupt the flow of death itself? Not even the bravest hero would wish to live with the consequences of spirits inhabiting the world. Let's move on." Auron flattened himself against the wall and walked sideways across the narrow edge to get to the next platform. Sora soon followed behind after he finished looking at the spirits in the green sea below. It may have been the song or even just looking at them but he felt an unnerving feeling settling in, one that could not be easily shaken off while he was here. It would be best to rescue Meg, stop Hades and then get out. Taking one step at a time he shimmied across the ledge. Then, as he was about to make it to the middle, his holding gave way causing him to lose his grip and fall.

"Sora!" Auron, who had already made it to the other side, yelled unable to do anything due to his distance. Sora managed to grab on to the ledge with both hands as he fell and continued moving across the ledge from there. Auron soon assisted him up when Sora was close enough.

"Phew, that was close." Sora's laugh seem to infer that he had found some amusement in the situation, though he really could only laugh off how dangerously close he had come to riding the current with his new inmates.

"They just keep coming." Auron swiped his sword downwards to his side as Shadow Heartless appeared in front of them.

"Hmph, when has that ever stopped us before?" Sora gave a simper before dashing in hungrily at the Shadows.

* * *

"Okay, fly upwards Pegasus, no, not downwards you stupid horse, AAHHH!" Luna screamed as the horse gave a sudden jolt to the left. Herc had long returned back to the coliseum deciding to pull Pegasus back quickly in order to check that the Rock Titan had not woken back up. This was much to her disapproval as she believed that Herc would go and check up on Meg and Phil in the process but he insisted that he go. This left her to try and lure Stratos away from Thebes with the help of Pegasus. Of course the horse was not making things easier for her, especially when she needed it the most.

"You do understand that this world is at stake right?" Luna grabbed on to the horse's neck as they soared through the storm. The wind was nearing violent speeds and Pegasus had to constantly avoid some debris from the buildings that were flying its way, "Okay, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have called you a 'stupid horse'. But there has to be more to it than this. What's happened to the Pegasus that Herc said could fly to Mount Olympus in an hour?"

This seemed to encourage Pegasus and with that, he zoomed forwards at higher speeds than before. As much as Luna detested it, she knew it was vital to their success. Flying right into the eye of the storm, Luna was met with heavy wind and rain velocity. They seemed to have alerted the Wind Titan to their locations as its red eyes flashed over to them.

"Okay, time to fly out now." Luna was barely able to say feeling as if she were about to throw up. Pegasus was knocked off course by a sudden change in the direction of the wind, causing them to spin rapidly and Luna to finally lose her hold and fall. She could only scream as she fell about a 100 feet into the tornado.

She had expected to never open her eyes again but instead she felt herself landing on something soft. She certainly wasn't dead, and whatever she had landed on felt like she was back in her bed on the Gummi Ship. She opened an eye one at a time and then looked down. First things she noticed was that she was absolutely soaking wet with rain. The second probably more important thing and the only thing keeping her alive right now was that she was on a flying cloud.

The cloud rode out of the tornado and she was finally able to see her saviours. The Olympians had appeared journeying from their home to combat the titans.

"You must be the girl Apollo mentioned, Luna. It's wonderful to meet you," Zeus said before creating a sharp and powerful lightning bolt in his hands, "Just a shame that we could not meet under better circumstances."

"I hear you on that one." Luna said as the cloud lowered her down to meet Zeus and the other gods.

"Let me guess, Hades?" It seemed Athena did not have to think long as she spoke the name of the person she had in mind instantly.

"You guessed it. Herc's back at the Coliseum with the Rock Titan. He may need help if it and the other two titans come back." Luna explained removing the ribbon in her hair allowing her hair to drop down.

"And just when I was starting to do Ares' manicure as well." Aphrodite expressed annoyance.

"Wait, what? That- That is not true." Ares blushed but maintained his aggressive stance nonetheless.

Luna looked around, "So what do I do?"

"You're the girl who took care of my pet along with my nephew and the other Keyblade Wielder are you not you?" Poseidon, a bearded and muscular man with bluish skin said walking over to Luna.

"Pet?" Luna gave a quizzical look. To confuse her even more, Poseidon put his hand to his mouth and whistled loudly. A familiar roar was soon heard followed by a large snake emerging out of the sea and circling around the same spot in the middle of the sky, "No, you are kidding. That thing is your pet? It attacked us!"

"And it was being controlled. I realised that one of my pets were missing and later found out that you three took on the Leviathan." Poseidon whistled again and the Leviathan flew closer towards them.

"Don't bring it here! And did you say pets, as in plural? Oh dear, if that was one of them, I don't think I want to see the others." Luna placed her nails to her mouth.

"Up to riding her? She's a wild beast I tell ya, Hahaha." Poseidon laughed.

Luna looked up at the creature flying above them, "I hope you're joking." A huge crash told Luna that as much as she was reluctant to ride the creature, she probably would have to. Barely visible but just in plain sight she could see a large and deformed shape coming towards them. It was the Ice Titan, but somehow different, as if it had merged with the Lava Titan with two extra hands protruding from its shoulders and the core of its body a deep red.

* * *

After taking out the infinite amount of Shadows, Sora and Auron with much force pulled open the doors of Hades' chamber and ran up the spiralling stairs.

"Yeul!" Was the first thing Sora saw and said as he ran into the middle of the room and freed her from her chains by slicing downwards carefully with his Keyblade. Yeul seemed to be protesting and shaking her head wildly about something but how mouth was covered with duct tape leaving her words as incoherent. Auron seemed to get what she was implying however but it was too late. The doors closed in front of him just as Sora peeled off the tape leaving Sora and Yeul as the only ones in the room.

"Why did you come here Sora? Don't you get it, it's a trap." Yeul said quickly. She may as well have not said anything because as soon as Sora turned, he came face to face with Maleficent and the man in the black coat.

"You foolish boy. Coming here without a backup plan will certainly be your downfall." Maleficent sneered.

"What did you do with Mickey? Tell me now!" Sora yelled summoning his Keyblade and staying in front of Yeul while pointing at both figures.

"That anger. Shame it doesn't come out more often. Maybe if you allow it to come out every now and then you'd get things done." The concealed man spoke, the first Sora had heard him.

"If you're trying to intimidate me it won't work. Now answer my question." Sora insisted.

"Do not worry about your king. He is perfectly fine and we are taking good care of him." Maleficent said.

Sora gave a sigh of amusement, "Yeah, why does you saying something like that make me not want to believe you? Give it up Maleficent, you're a joke."

"Watch your tongue Keybearer. If you want your day of reckoning then so be it." Maleficent raised her staff. Moments later a lightning bolt struck out from above, knocking Sora into Yeul and sending them both flying to the ground.

"Do you want me to take the girl?" The man asked looking over to Sora and Yeul's bodies lying across the floor just inches away from each other.

"Be my guest. I have a pesky fly to deal with in the meantime." Maleficent answered, her eyes mainly focusing on Sora as opposed to Yeul. There seemed to be a fiery passion in her eyes, one that Sora could only associate with malice and abhorrence to the boy who had ruined her plans time and again.

The man made his way over to Yeul but Sora got up quickly and summoned his Keyblade back to him. Sora tried to slash and stab at the man several times who dodged each one with ease before spinning around Sora and kicking him in the back into the large round table in the middle of the room. Stopping just before reaching Yeul, the man turned and instead jumped up onto the table in front of the disgruntled Sora. Sora stepped back quickly but the man followed him.

"Should I let you in on a little story of mine? Oh, this is an interesting one. Guess who I met a few weeks ago?" The man said in a sing-song voice. When Sora refused to respond the man sighed, "Not gonna play along huh? Oh well, too bad. You see I was hoping to have this big guessing game and we could've even played 21 questions if you wanted to. You like 21 questions Sora?"

"Getting friendly all of a sudden?" Maleficent asked with a voice devoid of emotion.

"Isn't it best to know about your opponent before they die? Oh who am I kidding, I know quite a lot already about you Sora. It's just that you don't know so much about me," The man leaned in, his voice turning into a whisper, "I work in the shadows, but believe me when I say that I am always watching you. You fascinate me so. The name's Abraxas by the way."

Who was this guy and why was he talking to Sora in such an informal way? Sora couldn't believe the man was tempting him by being this close, so close Sora could easily kill him if he wanted to. But instead, he could only stand in shock with a name to finally call the man, Abraxas, the man who had destroyed his home. He could even feel the man's intense gaze as he looked at Sora's face. It was something un-human like, something very familiar but before Sora could get a better look at the man's face underneath the cloak he leaned away.

"No Luna? Awww. That's a real shame you see, I was hoping to meet her again."

"Stay away from her." Sora spat angrily seeing his mention of Luna as a threat to her.

Abraxas laughed before looking over to Yeul, "Anyway, I was talking about who I met recently. You remember your old buddies, Riku, Kairi and the Queen? Though maybe you were too busy going off on adventures with Luna to remember…"

Sora had had enough and jumped viciously like a cat ready to scratch Abraxas' eyes out. He went right through the man's body and landed in front of Maleficent.

"And so the famous Keyblade wielder met his end, never to set his sights on his dear friends again. You'll find no light where you're going boy." Maleficent raised her staff but unexpectedly Yeul had gotten back up while no one had been looking and slammed herself into the evil fairy with as much force as she could muster.

"Yeul! I could kiss you! Well not literally, but uh- Forget it, let's go," Sora got up and grabbed Yeul's hand. He summoned his Keyblade to him once again and held it up at the door sending a beam of light to the keyhole which opened the door, "It helps to have a weapon which can open anything that has a keyhole don't you think?" Sora grinned before shooting a few rounds of fire at Abraxas in particular who slid over the table and ducked using it as cover. Sora and Yeul noticed the lack of Auron as they made their way down the stairs, unusual since Sora had expected Auron to have waited for them.

"Anyway, I asked why you came after me Sora. I'm not worth risking an entire town over. Our paths shouldn't have even crossed." Yeul spoke in disheartenment.

"Get it together Yeul. You really think Hades would just end things because you came to him? He's after Mount Olympus and nothing is going to stop him, not even you," Sora said shaking the girl by the shoulders to snap her out of her depression, "Speaking of which, where is Hades anyway? And Meg for that matter."

After hearing echoing voices below them, Sora and Yeul continued down the spiralling staircase. They could see a clear view of the illuminated Underdrome as they pass the borrowed lights reflecting on the adjacent walls. Even with its ugly appearance, Sora had to admit that the lights made it look quite grand from his current position. If he had helped Hades with opening the Underdrome then he imagined Hades to be saying something like "Gotta thank that Sora kid for opening the coliseum", not that Sora really wanted any praise from a villain.

With the stairs behind them, they soon entered the valley of the dead. Auron was up ahead with his Battlefield of War sword in his hand trying to strike Hades down. Hades clasped the sword with both hands but Auron's exerted force and pressure caused Hades to arc his body backwards slightly. To his left were Pain, Panic and Meg who was bound up in chains and duct tape similar to Yeul had been earlier.

"Sora! Get Yeul and Meg away while I take care of this." Auron growled pushing down with his blade.

"I'm not leaving you Auron," Sora said as he made his way over to Meg. Pain and Panic laughed before shape-shifting into a giant two-headed dragon on the spot, "Really guys? I've faced much worse than you. If you know what's best you'll stay out of my way."

"Ooh, we're so scared pipsqueak," The blue head of the dragon, being Panic, said licking his lips, "I wonder what a fried Keyblade wielder tastes like."

Pain scratched his own head, "Probably like a normal human?"

"Don't ruin it!"

"But you were asking-"

"It was a rhetorical question, I wasn't asking you."

"But it doesn't really make sense that a Keyblade wielder would taste any different would it, I mean-"

"Uh, guys?" Hades pointed over to Sora with one hand while his other still had a hold on Auron's blade. Pain and Panic looked to the left of them to see Sora, Yeul and an already free Meg heading downwards to the exit. Letting the girls go through the narrow path first, Sora turned and threw a blizzard spell at Hades knocking him away from Auron. Sora took Auron's nod at him as an appreciation of thanks before continuing on with Meg and Yeul. He would need to head back and help Auron out when he had gotten Yeul and Meg to a safer place, preferably the Inner Chamber.

Before Sora, Yeul and Meg could traverse the next cliff, a barrier appeared blocking the way forward. Sora turned around slowly to face Maleficent.

"You think you can get away that easily? All I request for is the seer then I will allow you to be on your merry way." Maleficent held out her long spidery fingers.

"You just tried to kill me a few seconds ago and now you say you'll let me live. Again, finding this very hard to believe." Sora said extending both arms as a mean to protect both Yeul and Meg.

"I've had a change of heart. Perhaps, I may even give you back your King if you do so." Maleficent bargained.

"Is she that important to you? Why do you need her?" Sora questioned. He probably already knew of her importance but it couldn't hurt to clarify.

"She is a seer, one of the last of her kind. She will lead me to the great secrets of Kingdom Hearts. If you live to survive that long even you may see the true power of all the worlds' core." Maleficent answered nearing closer ever so slowly.

"Okay," Sora nodded figuring as much that it had to do with taking over the worlds. Typical Maleficent. He then pursued another question, "So what about the Heartless? Why are they increasing? And the radiation covering all the worlds too?"

"Radiation? What in the devil are you talking about boy? As for the Heartless, that need not concern you. Just know that they will be this realm's future as will I!" Maleficent spoke with an egomaniacal dominance, "Now for the seer, you know it's the right thing to do."

Sora looked past Maleficent to see Auron battling Hades, both of them using speed and in Hades' case, teleportation, to outdo each other, "I don't know," Sora said turning back to Maleficent quickly, "Is it? I mean when you think about it, according to you I'm just prolonging the inevitable right? So how about we do this on my terms instead," He pointed the Kingdom Key downwards, "You back off, tell Hades to send those Titans back to where they come from and let my friends leave. If you do that I won't blow this bridge and send us dropping into that green sea below."

"You wouldn't do that. You'd kill them too." Maleficent laughed loudly at the bluff.

"Oh, you think I'm bluffing? Well why don't we test that theory of yours out then. You really think you know me so well?" Sora asked before pointing his Keyblade at an angle, "Well you know what? You probably do." Sora gave a cheesy grin and at the last second pointed his Keyblade up and casted thunder at Maleficent. While Maleficent had managed to dodge the bolt of lightning she had been sent to the edge of the narrow bridge. She was unable to maintain her balance before falling off face forwards towards the spinning green whirlpool of souls.

"You did it Sora!" Meg exclaimed playing with Sora's cheeks in an attempt to embarrass him.

"Hey, I'm not a little boy y'know." Sora said while trying to knock Meg's hands away from him.

"Uh, guys? Might want to think again on that one." Yeul pointed as a raven flew downwards to Maleficent and reached her before she hit the sea. The two figures were engulfed in a blazing green light before disappearing. The barrier stopping them from progressing had also disappeared.

"She got away," Sora swore silently before turning to look at Hades, "Auron needs my help, you think you two will be alright on your own?"

"You know how tough I am Sora. I'll protect her so you won't have to worry your spiky little head about a thing." answered Meg.

"Thanks, I appreciate it," Sora groaned fractiously, "just go back to the Inner Chamber and wait there for me and Auron. If you see any Heartless on your way there, just run and do not look back."

Meg and Yeul nodded before leaving. Sora ran in the opposite direction back up to the cliff which hosted Auron and Hades' battle as well as Pain and Panic who had long since reverted back to their normal forms and were now in the process of running back to Hades' chamber. Hades was cloaked in red and not matter how hard they tried, neither could hit Hades. On the other hand, it could be said that Sora and Auron's combined skill were the things which kept them on equal footing. Hades' swipes and fireball could be easily blocked by either of them, the only annoying thing being his teleportation ability.

"This is going nowhere fast! We need to change our tactics." Auron urged as he parried a punch from Hades'.

"How did we beat him last time? Oh right, Herc. Without him, we can't do much." Sora said jumping away from a fireball.

"Heh heh, getting tired? Well here seems like the perfect place to rest, don't you think?" Hades joked before getting into the middle and holding both hands out on either side, "Time to lighten things up a little." With that, fire erupted from both of his hands spreading out and extending to just off the cliff. Hades rotated in circles trying to catch Sora and Auron in the blast. Sora was able to roll through each flame with precise timing though Auron was not as lucky, getting burnt and sending him into a wall.

"Auron!" Sora rushed over to his friend's side just as Hades stopped the eruption of hot fire flowing out of his hands.

Hades chuckled, turning blue as he walked towards Sora and Auron, "Well look-y here prisoner, this is what happens when you go against your contributor. I gave you a second chance and you messed up."

"Wrong Hades, I would have messed up had I followed your orders. Let me tell you something Hades, one does not just play the role their given, they make it their own. This is my story, and it's time for it to come to its conclusion." Auron lurched forward and reversed around Hades before pulling him into a lock.

"Auron, what are you doing?" Sora asked as Auron backed away with Hades in his grasp.

"I'm doing what must be done. Something my heart tells me to," Auron backed away to the edge of the cliff and looked over it to see the souls swimming around, singing the same song he had come to familiarise himself with, he was one of them after all, "Maybe its instinct, or maybe it was you. I suppose you've given me hope, something that I never would have found without meeting you."

"Auron, this is crazy, stop it!" Sora cried out, "He's immortal! This won't do anything dammit."

"The dead may have something else to say about that," Auron gripped fiercely with all his strength as he felt himself being burnt from Hades who was trying desperately to get away, "You, Donald and Goofy taught me that there's more to life than worrying over the past. I've died once you know? Death is nothing to me now. Just an old friend waiting to greet me once again."

"Please, stop this Auron." Sora yelled running up but Auron shook his head, "Let me decide my own fate Sora! Our stories were to intertwine after all. Now, I'll leave you to be my living legacy. My proof of existence. What you see here Sora, are the memories of a ghost. This is my way of atoning for my sins, the sins of a coward."

"No! Let me go prisoner!" But it was too late. Before Hades could get away, before Sora could reach them, Auron had leapt off the cliff along with Hades sending both of them to their ends.

"AURON!" Sora cried in agony, not wanting to believe that his friend was gone. Someone he had come to understand finally after a previous visit filled with secrets and mysteries which Sora had wanted to uncover. Looking over the edge, Sora contemplated the idea of him still being alive. That somehow, he would pop out any moment and call April Fools' on him. But he knew that was impossible, unless his eyes had deceived him. He wanted to reach in and try and recover the body before it was gone but it was too far away and swimming in seas filled with possibly millions. He imagined Auron being dragged downer and downer into the depths, their song being his only words of comfort. Their song. It was still going on.

"Please stop singing," He plucked his fingers into his ears and gritted his teeth before stumbling up, "Please stop singing." He repeated as tears fell from his eyes. Why could he hear the song even as he tried to block it out? It had already invaded his mind, like poison, that was why. And the only remedy he knew was getting out of the Valley of the Dead quickly.

Taking his hands away from his eyes, Sora wiped the tears away and ran quickly down the bridge, shimmied across the narrow edge to the next cliff and continued on downwards. He soon heard a horse's voice ring out above him. Unusual for the melody of the dead.

Sora looked up, "Pegasus!" The mentioned horse flew on down and eventually hovered low enough so Sora could boost himself up and fly towards the Inner Chamber.

* * *

Herc grabbed the Rock Titan by the foot and spun it around and around before flinging it towards Zeus, who caught it with the whirling Wind Titan that was in his hand.

"Good job dad. That's one down and two more to go." Herc counted as he, Zeus and the rest of the gods looked up towards the sky.

The Leviathan cut through the air at high speeds, dodging the blasts of the combined Ice and Lava Titan.

"How do you like riding the great snake of the sea?" Poseidon laughed as Luna clung on firmly to the Leviathan's horn. In comparison, Poseidon didn't seem to need to hold on to anything even choosing to stand up on it.

"I don't even know how you can even stand to ride on this thing." Luna said.

"What? Can't hear you." Poseidon shouted as the wind slapped across their faces.

"I SAID- Oh forget it." Luna buried her head into her arms as the Leviathan shot a beam of Ice down tearing through the Titan's leg, which smashed it to pieces.

Herc took control of Stratos from his father and ran straight for the Titan. It looked down to see Herc and was about to smash its hands downward but Luna quickly aimed her Keyblade and with gravity magic, stunned the Titan allowing Herc to suck it up before throwing the tornado Titan and its conglomerates into the atmosphere.

"We did it!" Ares yelled in triumph, all the other gods following along in quick succession.

Luna closed her eyes as the Leviathan flew downwards and eventually rested on the ground allowing her and Poseidon off. While the others cheered, Luna was not too interested, more worried for Sora and the others. Herc sensing her agitated state pardoned himself from the party and travelled along with her back to the coliseum. It was only a short ways away from their current destination but on their way there, Luna explained to Herc about Meg, as he was no doubt about to question Luna on her whereabouts.

"Well I'm glad you told me at least Luna, but you really shouldn't have hidden it from me." Herc was saying as they entered past the gates.

"I didn't want you to get distracted. I know you care deeply for Meg but I also trusted Sora to get to her in time," Luna said standing in front of the stairs to the Underworld, "Where are you? Come on, don't let me down Pegasus."

After a while Pegasus soon emerged with Sora along with Meg and Yeul whose small frame could fit just next to Meg's.

"You did it Sora!" Herc yelled as Pegasus settled down allowing Meg and Herc to reunite with each other.

"Yeah, I did, didn't I?" Sora said dejectedly. Luna ran up and then slapped him, "Ow! What was that for?"

"For lying to me. You were going to go down there by yourself without an Olympus Stone? And without even telling me at that. Well, what do you have to say for yourself?"

Sora's eyes moved downward, "I'm sorry." He seemed rather tired and more out of it than usual.

"Hey, where's Auron? I wanted to thank him for looking after you." Luna looked back at the stairway which had now disappeared and had been restored back to its usual self.

"He-he… did what he needed to. He was brave until the very end. He never was a coward. He was a hero." Sora responded absentmindedly before turning to the half destroyed Coliseum and looking up.

* * *

**A ridiculously action packed chapter, probably because in the next few chapters to come there hardly will be any action. I acquaint it to something similar to Naruto fillers but actually have an impact on the story (Sorry Naruto, still love ya but you gotta admit those fillers are horrible).**

**And Auron :( Always will be the best character of FFX for me. So next up, Sora and Luna need to get back to Radiant Garden so we'll be switching to the Restoration Committee for a while. **


	41. Retracing Steps

Chapter 41

Retracing Steps

Maleficent panted as she walked into the dark circular room with her staff acting as support.

"Damn that fool Sora and his meddling antics." Maleficent cursed leaning against the table and trying to catch her breath.

"Well look who's complainin' now," Pete laughed also walking into the room, on his shoulder was the unconscious body of Kuja who he had taken whilst the Coliseum had been attacked by the Rock Titan, "Hate to say I told you so Maleficent, but I told you so. No use underestimating that kid I tell ya."

"SILENCE!" Maleficent roared in a way much unlike her usual self, "His time will come and-"

"Uh yeah, isn't that what we always say though? I think we oughta shake it up a bit don't you?" Pete laid Kuja's body on the table before swiping the sweat of his forehead.

"And what would you suggest?" Maleficent asked non-interestedly, though she pretended to care just for the sake of Pete.

"I haven't thought about that yet. Aren't you usually the one that makes the plans and all?"

"It was your idea- Urgh, I don't even know why I'm talking to you right now," Maleficent brooded before turning to look out of the windows dividing the two figures in the room from the heavy rain pouring outside, "I have the powers of darkness at my command, so why must one boy try to ruin my plans time and again? It's that Keyblade of his."

"So then what do we do?" Pete asked.

"Rely on the darkness too much and of course you'll lose," Maleficent turned as Abraxas walked out of the dark corridor before closing it, "He's strong, but I think you're overestimating him. He has fears just like everyone else and he certainly is not a god."

"Then what do you suppose we do?" asked Pete rather annoyed at the man's sudden appearance, "Better yet, why don't you take him on if you think he's so easy, you have one of them Keyblades dontcha?"

"You seem to be under the impression that simply having a Keyblade is good enough to ascertain dominance over someone. A Keyblade is only as good as the wielder who uses it. If either of you were to have one then I'm sure you still would lose," Abraxas ignored the scowl coming from Pete's face turning instead to Maleficent, "Go ahead with your plan as usual. Sora's downfall will come at the expense of following his heart. Give him a reason to soar higher than he ever has done before, then snatch it away and drag him down along with it." Abraxas explained gesturing a bird being caught in a cage with his hands.

"A prisoner of his own heart… An interesting idea but then comes proving it. I assume you know what to do?" Maleficent gave a look of intrigue as she studied Abraxas' interlocked fists.

"More than he does." Abraxas chuckled nudging in the direction of Pete. Needless to say, the big cat was already steaming at this point and would have jumped at the man had Maleficent not been in the room.

* * *

Sora and Luna stood before Herc, Phil, Meg and the gods of Olympus not too far away from the ruins of the Coliseum. Sora and Luna had tended to the injured with their curative spells and had made sure along with Herc, Phil and Meg that they had gotten back to Thebes, though in all honesty, that place didn't look any better either. Serious repairs were going to be needed to fix the city. Unfortunately, Sora and Luna could not stay for much long to be a part of that period of reconstruction. They needed to get back to Radiant Garden to check up on the friends as well as the Heartless who were most likely growing in number in other worlds.

Luna had gathered as much from Sora's silence that Auron was gone for good. She had tried to comfort him multiple times on the issue while they had been helping the injured but Sora had just shrugged it off and they continued on with what they were doing in silence. She glanced to the boy on her left who seemed lost in thought. What she wouldn't give to have him back to his normal chirpy self.

Yeul had long gone to the Gummi Ship awaiting Sora and Luna's return. She would be travelling along with them to Radiant Garden in order to keep her safe from Maleficent or any other allies of hers. Luna noted the most curious fascination and intrigue on the girl's face as she entered the ship and talked with Kupopo and Jiminy, who were also there to keep her company.

"You have done our world a great service Keyblade Master Sora and apprentice Luna, and as such, it is only fitting to thank you once again for all you have done." Zeus said in a mighty voice before he started clapping along with the rest of the Olympians and Herc. Luna couldn't smile. How could she when the boy next to her seemed to be hurting deep inside? It didn't feel right.

"Oh, before you leave on your journey, please take this." Zeus said as Hera handed him something.

"You really don't have to give me anything, with all due respect sir." Sora moved his head downwards and away from whatever the object was.

"But the person I got the box from requested I specifically give it to you. I believe his name was Abraxas?"

Sora's head shot up as if he had just been struck by lightning. Resting in Zeus' hand was a cube-shaped box, one with symbols he could not read. Taking it into his hand, he examined it closely with Luna moving in closer to also get a good look in.

"What are these symbols?" Luna wondered tracing her finger over the embossed small scripture.

"I have no idea," Zeus laughed, "The language seems ancient. Certainly predates my time I would say."

Sora flipped the box around before resting his hand on the multiple dark spaces deeply indented into box, "It's a Rubik's Cube."

"A what?" Luna questioned looking at Sora as if he just said a dirty word.

"Well it looks like one anyway. I used to play with it when I was a kid. Could never solve the darn things. Riku on the other hand, he was good at them," Sora chuckled before actually acknowledging the rest of the puzzled faces in front of him, "Oh I was just kidding. If it's a Rubik's Cube, it's the weirdest one I've ever seen that's for sure. Just reminded me of one. It's more like a puzzle box I'm guessing."

Luna looked from the box up to Zeus, "And you said a guy named Abraxas gave it to you? Who's that?"

"The guy who was with Hades and Maleficent in the Underworld," Sora explained much to Luna's surprise. He had neglected to tell her of anything that had transpired in the Underworld until now, "He's also the guy that destroyed my island."

"So… the same guy I met and the one we think kidnapped the King?" Luna asked.

"It's a theory," Sora chucked the box into the air and watched as it landed back in his palm, "He never confirmed nor denied it, but who else could it have been?" Sora looked at the box one last time before squeezing it into his pocket, "Thanks a lot. This will certainly be helpful."

"No problem, anything else we can do to help?" Hera asked.

"Maybe, did he say anything about why he was there or what he wanted?" Sora asked.

"Not really, just mentioned your name and something about protecting Yeul." She replied.

"Huh? Protecting Yeul? What did he say about that?" Sora asked quickly.

"Just that it would be a good idea to let Yeul travel with you so you could protect her." Zeus answered instead of Hera.

_He's playing with me, he has got to be playing with me. _Sora clutched the sides of his head in confusion, "You know what, its fine. I'm way past caring right now, I don't even wanna think about it. Sounds like a good plan right Luna?"

Luna looked hesitant, "But aren't you worried about what that means? For us and Yeul?"

"I just want to sleep really. Maybe I'll think something of it tomorrow." Sora said.

"Now you mention it, I am kind of tired." Luna yawned.

"There you go! Well, we need to get going now. I'm pretty sure I already unlocked the Keyhole and the gate here so that's fine," Sora said before looking to Herc and then Luna, "Uh, I have something to confess. Auron is-"

"Gone? Yeah, I got the gist of it from your quietness." Luna said though Herc seemed quite shocked at this news.

"Sora, I'm so sorry…"

"It's okay Meg. He knew what he was doing. He fought for what he believed in and for that I'm glad for him, but at the end of the day, I do question whether Auron sacrificing himself was necessary. Hades could easily come back couldn't he? It hasn't stopped him before." Sora said.

"I'm sure that Auron had your best interests in mind at the time. He fought with every ounce of his strength to protect you. If he didn't believe that he had some chance in taking out Hades as well, then it must have been because he wanted you to get away. To live for him. Placing your life above his may have not necessarily felt important to you, but it did to him." Luna reasoned.

Sora looked at Luna before thinking it over, "So he died because of me then."

"That's not what I'm saying at all," Luna put her hand in his and gave a comforting squeeze, "Don't make this about you Sora. Auron chose to believe in something and died in it is what I am saying, so don't say it's a waste, or you dishonour everything he stood for." Luna said.

A smile crept on Sora's face slowly and he looked over to Luna, "Where would I be without you?"

"Halfway driven into insanity probably. But then again, look at where I would be without you." Luna smiled back thinking back to something Zeus had said earlier, _Apprentice Luna. I think I could get used to that, Sora's apprentice in training_.

Phil gave a thumbs-up to Luna, "Remember to keep up with that training of yours. No excuses ya here? I don't wanna see you returning here with the mind of a shrimp you got that?"

"Yes sir." Luna said cheerily giving a salute.

"Don't worry Phil, I'll make sure she doesn't slack off. And you two lovebirds keep playing nice alright? No arguments," Sora said fervently before adding, "Oh and if you're planning on taking her flying on Pegasus, you might want to try going out lower speeds. Just saying."

Herc laughed, "I can't promise but I'll try. See you soon guys and remember to look out for one another."

Sora and Luna waved before heading off in the direction towards Thebes. They both looked up into the sky simultaneously appearing mesmerized by the golden sun and the beautiful rainbow stretching over the far ends of the sky as far as the eye could see. Sora could only hope that the pot of the gold at the end of the rainbow was their ticket back to Radiant Garden, they'd need it.

* * *

"You have got to be kidding me! Palom, put that down?" Kairi jumped for the little child but he quickly moved out of the way and snickered.

"Gonna have to be a bit faster than that." Palom threw the apple into the air that was in his hands before catching it and taking a bite out of it. One of the first things anyone would have noticed about this apple was its unusual color, a golden apple. Palom had taken to believing that this special apple must have been so delicious and juicy that Merlin had purposefully hid it so that only he would be able to taste it.

"What a selfish old man. This apple is amazing!" Palom bit the apple again before looking over at Kairi, "want to try some?"

"Ugh, you're disgusting sometimes you… know… thaaaat?" Her voice was raised to a squeaky pitch as she pointed as Palom, "Uh oh, this is not good."

"What? You know it's rude to point right?" Palom was about to take another bite out of the apple but Kairi dashed forward and smacked it away with her hand, "What was that for? If you wanted it that badly you could've just asked!"

"No, not the apple." Kairi looked around before setting her eyes on the dressing table which hosted the object that she wanted. Moving quickly, she grabbed the mirror of the table and held it up showing Palom his face.

"Huh? My face! What happened to my beautiful and usually quite handsome if I might add face? I'm ugly! What's with these warts, yuck!" Palom reached up and touched his face to feel the giant zits that covered his whole face, "Help me Kairi, please."

Kairi threw the mirror onto the bed before holding her hands out, "Okay okay, just stop touching it. Let me see, Merlin must have something around here. I don't know, zit cream maybe?"

"Why did the old man decided to make a golden apple that would give someone zits anyway?" Palom asked angrily. Kairi could hazard a guess why, Cid.

She turned back to Palom, "Better question is why you ate an apple which could have been anything to begin with?"

"Sounded like a good idea at the time." Palom held his hands up defensively.

"At the time," Kairi mimicked deeply, "Just get over here and help me find something before these zits turn you into a giant balloon or something."

Kairi and Palom searched the entire room. When starting out Yuna, Rikku and Paine had been given orders from Leon to clean the house, of course with the incentive of Leon's valuables, much to the older man's annoyance. Initially, they had done a terrible job misplacing certain items around the house such as Yuffie's hairdryer being found in the fridge. Over time however, things began to change and they began to take their work more seriously. It seemed like the catalyst for that was something Leon was ashamed to admit he bargained with. Fortunately, Yuffie had stepped in and had offered them something to do with Cloud's possessions.

Merlin had his cupboards and dressers filled with potions that had both abnormal and normal effects. One of the cans of spray that Kairi had picked up lying in one of the cupboards had read "Growth fertiliser- For use only with plants". Understandable, as he was in the process of trying to develop a chemical along with Xanatos Industries in order to regrow flowers around the town. But then you had things such as dead frogs and chicken legs in jars and she really had to wonder what Merlin put into his potions.

"Found something," Kairi had opened a drawer and pulled out a tube containing a gel-like substance, "Merlin's Magical Remedies, only administer in severe cases," She read before giving a soft chuckle, "Huh, Merlin having his own brand of cosmetics is certainly a sight I want to see. Well I can't imagine any severer case than this so…" Walking over to Palom, she opened her palm showing the tube, "You can do it because I'm sure as not touching that face."

"It's not that bad is it?" Palom grabbed the tube and squeezed out a big amount of gel before applying it to his face.

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that when you walk out in the middle of the day with a massive amount of people near you." Kairi folded her arms as she watched expectantly. Soon enough the invasion of the zits had been subsided and all that was left were a last few red pimples covering Palom's forehead. Eventually even those were soon gone leaving a clean faced Palom.

"Are they gone?" He asked anxiously. When Kairi nodded her head, he jumped up into the air in delight, "Nothing stops the mighty Palom, not even a couple of zits."

"That was because there was a cure to it. I bet there hadn't been you would have been crying your eyes out by now," Kairi checked he watch quickly, "Okay I need to go off and meet with the others. Don't touch anything while I'm away. Actually on second thought, just don't do anything, stay there right there."

Palom inflated his lungs and held in his breath causing Kairi to sigh, "Well obviously you can breathe. Just don't move about too much." Kairi amended before opening the door and walking out. The smell of machinery immediately filled her nostrils and she took in the equipment stationed around the Borough. The expansion of the town was coming at the risk of the normally aesthetically pleasing scenery inhibiting a visual pollution of the sorts. It was to be expected of course, and the town according to Cid would need an industrial revolution to overcome the fear of Maleficent's takeover. It would endow the people of the town with jobs and would hopefully speed up development by a lot. Kairi wasn't objecting to restoration of her world of origin but at the same time she sincerely hoped that the town would not change too much when they were done with it. It seemed that these fears also rested with Leon hence his increasing involvement in overseeing blueprints and plans.

Even then, with the OS system still shut down and the security of the town gone, the changes implemented would be quite slow for fear of Maleficent was deeply connected to the fear of the Heartless who had been increasing their attacks in frequency.

She walked into the newer part of town. The sight of smoke enveloped the air, acting as a sort of second layer between the ground and the blue sky. From the ground, the sounds of drilling and the clanging of metal could be heard as she walked past the men and women engaging in work, ready to start this town anew. At this point in time she wondered whether she had any right to question the developments. She had found a new home on the Destiny Islands. She even felt she knew that place more than she did this. Apart from a few buildings, could she really consider this alien world, devoid of what had felt familiar to her before, where she had come from?

_Perhaps when everything is restored, _Kairi told herself though she had the feeling that even if things were to be restored to just as it had been that it still would not feel the same.

"Hey Riku, anything new happening?" Kairi asked once she had come across the silver-haired youth.

"We'll finally get some answered from this David Xanatos guy, he's coming here to meet with us." Riku informed her as he watched a couple of kids playing in the park area on the opposite side of the street. Kairi leaned against the wall much like him and stared at the kids too with a smile on her face.

"I see. I want to thank him for helping us," Kairi turned to Riku, "Seems like you have something on your mind."

"Do I?" Riku grinned at Kairi before turning away.

"I can read you like an open book. Come on, tell me what's troubling you. Is it Sora?" Kairi parted from the wall and spun around Riku to meet his gaze.

Riku looked in the other direction once again, "No, it's not Sora. It's just, are we going to actually trust him just like that? Even you have to admit it's kind of suspicious. He leaves his home for no apparent reason and then just feels like helping us? With as much munny as Scrooge McDuck, why bother coming here of all places? I can't see any benefits to it."

"We have another Leon on our hands," Kairi sighed folding her arms and looked over to the kids watching them pensively, "I admit, maybe I'm a little sceptical about the whole thing. But I think it's just because I'm afraid of change, whatever that is. We've been here for two weeks now and this just kind of came out of nowhere to us. Even Leon's a little worried but he's been working hard and at least he's found his childhood friend again."

"I'm not afraid of change," Riku almost whispered though he knew he was all too afraid of it or at least once had been, especially since he had been the one to destroy his islands and go down a path he deeply regretted. He didn't know how he would be able to handle change when it came again next time, "It's just that it all seems weird to me. I can't put my mind on it. Plus we haven't solved the riddle of the locked down OS system yet. It just feels too convenient I guess that this is all happening at the same time."

Kairi nodded her head in thought before glancing over to Riku, "What do you think about Luna?"

"I'm sure she's doing well with Sora around. I actually can't wait to see how much she's progressed," Riku smiled before turning to Kairi, "Hopefully you're not going to be jealous."

Kairi feigned anger furrowing her brows in annoyance, "Yeah right Riku," Kairi then stopped her playful act before looking downwards, "Actually, I saw something interesting when I went into our room, the one Luna and I shared when we first came to Radiant Garden about a month ago that is. I went back to visit there yesterday and I found a coat."

"Okay…? Lots of people wear coats Kairi." Riku appeared confused by the red head's statement.

"No, not just any coat. The coat looks like the one both of the Organizations used to wear." Kairi explained referring to both the old Organization XIII and the new one with the 13 Darknesses.

"What? Are you saying…"

"Yes, that coat was under Luna's bed."

Silence followed between the two with the only sounds coming from the construction work and the children playing nearby.

"So what exactly does this mean?" Riku soon asked figuring that was the best question to forward the conversation.

"I'm not sure, but maybe she has a good reason for it being there? Or maybe it's just one of Even's stupid tricks?" She offered nonsensical suggestions but each one seemed to make less sense than the former.

"What were you doing looking under her bed anyway?" A suspicious Riku asked.

"Oh, that? Hahaha you don't need to know that, do you?" Kairi laughed nervously while grimacing at the same time before looking away. She soon turned back with a straight face, "But besides that, I think the best course of action is to confront her when she gets back. It's not that I don't trust her, but that coat really does send off a lot of negative vibes."

"It does, trust me on that one." Riku said glumly knowing the feeling of having to constantly wear the garment, "Speaking of Even, what are he and Ienzo doing?"

"Beats me. He's always one to work in the shadows. From what I know he likes wondering about by himself to 'document' the town, or at least Ienzo says that." Kairi snickered.

"And by that he means trying to create a data version of this town or something like that probably," Riku laughed before nudging his head to show he was leaving. Kairi followed him while he talked, "I still think he has it for me actually. I think he's interested in probably putting me in a test tube and then experimenting on me."

"He's interested in everyone that has a Keyblade though. It's probably just that he's interested in you and Sora the most probably because you two have beat him before? That's my opinion anyway." Kairi theorized.

"Why thank you Kairi, now I don't know whether to feel alleviated by that or intimidated." Riku muttered dully. Together the two continued through the expanding town, both with the slightest feeling of worry on their face, but for different reasons.

* * *

"It was a cold winter's night and shadows surrounded the lone castle's figure," Sora said darkly as his face as well as Luna, Kupopo and Jiminy's were illuminated by nothing but a flashlight. They were in Luna's bedroom and the lights were turned off. Yeul in the meantime had taken to resting in one of the unoccupied bedrooms. Sora had felt the need for the group to gather around and have a bit of fun. Luna was up for it but with ghost stories? She already had weird dreams sometimes and she really didn't need even weirder dreams after this, "The castle inhabited only a few but the most important of these was the master of the castle himself. He was cold, unfeeling, miserable, all the worst traits mankind had to offer."

"So did he keep to himself then Kupo?"

Sora nodded to Kupopo, "He shunned his servants, considered himself above all others. Then, a beggar came to his doorstep. She gave a light tap on the large wooden doors," Sora tapped the flashlight with his knuckles in rhythms of two three times, "the door opened and out came the master. The beggar asked for the master's services. She appeared old, wretched and fatigued. Even so, the master denied her entry into his domain-"

"Wait a minute, I've heard this story before. Isn't this-" Jiminy was about to say but Sora quickly cut him off.

"SO as I was about to say, the beggar asked why she was not allowed into his comfy home to which he replied with disgust in his heart. He found her repulsive and did not want her anywhere near him."

"Wait, but Sora-"

"And so to this she warned the master not to be deceived by appearances, but he continued to turn her away. And then, the most peculiar thing happened."

"I can't believe this…"

"She transformed into a beautiful enchantress with a rose in her hand. Immediately the prince begged for forgiveness, but it was too late. She-"

"Put a spell on the master and the inhabitants of the castle and then told the master that if he was able to love before the last petal on the rose fell then he and his servants would turn back." Jiminy yelled out erratically heaving up and down after he had finished.

"Actually, I was going to say she plagued his dreams with nightmares of being alone but I guess that works too." Sora chuckled out resulting in Jiminy collapsing on the bed.

"That wasn't very scary kupo. How about my turn then kupo?" Kupopo suggested.

"Be my guest. I doubt yours could be that scary." Luna craned her neck to the side while she cuddled up in a ball.

"Not scary eh? Very well kupo, at your own discretion. There was abandoned factory erected in the weirdest location possible. Far away from the unseeing eye, the factory contained a great secret that only a few knew of kupo. So, one day two children-"

"Wait, why two? I think one would be scarier."

"Who's telling the story kupo?"

"Oops, sorry." Sora bobbed his head up and down before mouthing at the moogle to continue.

"Where was I? Oh, one day two children, a boy and a girl about your ages decided to investigate. They had been dared by their evil school chums kupo."

Sora interjected again, "Evil school- Aren't you taking this a little bit too far?"

"My story, my rules, got it?"

"Ooh, you're an assertive little one aren't you? And cute to boot." Luna giggled causing Sora and Kupopo to groan in annoyance.

"Don't flirt with the moogle." Sora burrowed his head into the pillow.

"I should punch you again for that. It wasn't flirting, it's a compliment."

Jiminy cleared his throat, "Okay, we get it. Let's just finish this already."

"Thank you kupo. Humans… anyway, the two children were dared by their friends to go on an adventure to the abandoned factory. Rumours had it that this factory was haunted by ghosts. Of course, who would believe that, right kupo? So with a camera in hand, the two set off for the factory. Prying open the rusted gates, the two made their way through the numerous obstacles and partitions that separated them from the factory. Finally entering it, silence filled the room," The silence created from Kupopo's story telling could not have helped to create the effect of tension better as Sora, Luna and Jiminy became more intrigued by the second, "Just like the silence right now. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of droplets panging heavily against the window frame. It was also completely dark and the two could barely see each other."

"Oh dear, I don't like the sound of this." Luna found her knees shaking all of a sudden.

Kupopo continued, "The floorboards were wooden and rotten giving off a creaking sound whenever they took a step. The girl no longer able to stand it, screamed in protest wanting out but the boy insisted they continued on not wanting to go back to his friends in disgrace. They turned a corner and just as they did so… AN EVIL ROBOT SANTA JUMPED AT THEM!"

At that instance the lights of the flashlight turned off causing Luna and Jiminy to jump up and scream in fright.

"Wait what? Turn the lights back on," Sora said waiting for the lights to come back from the flashlight before adding, "Are you serious? Evil robot Santa? That was the best you could come up with? Alright, now I'm offended."

"What kupo? A evil robot Santa is a pretty serious thing, especially when its claws extend for their necks and-"

"No no no! You're horrible. So much build up, and for what? Santa? Oh I suppose he extended his jolly robot claws and gave them presents or something right?" Sora joked kookily.

"But Sora, I thought you said you believed in Santa?" Luna mocked.

"You still don't believe me? He exists I tell you," He said shrilly, "Just wait, I'll bring you to meet him if you don't believe me."

Luna shook her head, "Oh don't worry Sora, I can believe just about anything right now. But let's face it, Kupopo's story was better than yours. And when the moogle has a better story than yours, you know you need to hit the books."

Sora looked grumpily over at Kupopo, "You win this time moogle." A resounding laugh was heard across the room as all four of them continued to spend time basking in each other's company.

"I really don't want this to end. Just us talking, hanging out and having fun, exploring worlds. It's like the ultimate experience." Luna smiled dreamily.

"Well… it doesn't have to end you know?" Sora said hesitantly.

"What do you mean by that Sora?" Jiminy asked curiously.

"Even when you're back in your world. I can still see you with the Gummi Ship, and then you, me, Riku and Kairi can go and visit wherever we want. Like a holiday!" The excited boy snapped his fingers before reverting back to a stoical state, "You know, that is if you want to of course."

"I'd really love that," Luna smiled, "but let's not get too excited just yet. We have a whole lot more worlds to discover, right?"

* * *

**So taking a break from the action and now we delve into filler territory. Also might be weekly developments for a while due to exams but we'll see. So next chapter is Sora and Luna reuniting with Riku, Kairi and the others. And a treasure hunt...**


	42. Reunion

**Hmm, Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies. Wonder where they got that from ;) Nah, I'm just kidding. Not like it was the hardest name in the world to make up anyway. I'm quite looking forward to the game, even if it is going to be digitally distributed only. Anyway back to Kingdom Hearts, and we have returned to Radiant Garden at last.**

* * *

Chapter 42

Reunion

Sora scooped up the extraordinarily designed puzzle box into his palm and held it at eye level before studying it intensely.

"Where did you come from?" Sora murmured as he rotated and flipped the box several times in his hands, "Most importantly why did he want me to have it? I mean, you must have had some reason. Is it a trap? Why not just come after me then if you wanted me? And I can't… even open it," Sora tried all sort of combinations such as stretching it, squeezing it, rotating the top layer about 45 degrees and then trying to pry it open however the box refused to open up, "why even give me the box and not tell me how to open it?"

"Do you always talk to yourself like that kupo?" He heard the voice of Kupopo behind him. Turning around he grinned idiotically and scratched his head, "Yeah, I'm convinced. You humans are weird." Kupopo concluded before leaving the room possibly afraid of catching this imaginary disease he had conjured up in his mind.

Sora looked at the puzzle box once more before trying to rotate each of the layers much like if he had been playing with a Rubik's Cube. Nothing happened. In frustration, Sora threw the puzzle box across the room, hitting the wall and eventually resting on the floor. He had hoped something would come from that but clearly not.

"Stupid box," Sora was just about ready to incinerate the box to smithereens with fire magic when he saw it up ahead. Just off in the distance a familiar world was starting to appear. He looked to the world map screen for confirmation but had forgotten that it had stopped working some time ago, "Luna, come quick. We're finally here!" He shouted in joy.

Luna came running into the room, with her hair down and quite damp after having taken a shower. A grin appeared on her features as she observed the world, though she felt her joy couldn't compare nearly as much as Sora's. He would finally see his friends again.

* * *

Leaving the ship, Sora, Luna, Yeul, Jiminy, Kupopo beamed down towards Radiant Garden. It was night time and there seemed to be very little commotion about. Up ahead, the lights of what was once Ansem the Wise's residence shone out above all others. Moving down into the marketplace, Sora and Luna set their eyes on the strange mechanisms and tools lying about.

"What do you think these are? For construction?" Luna asked examining a large crane to the left of her behind the item shop, "Xanatos Industries. Anyone you know?"

Sora shook his head, "I'm curious to find out myself. Looks like we've got another mystery on our hands."

"Love mysteries. You know, I have a feeling I used to enjoy them a lot as a kid." A giddy Luna proclaimed.

"Hey, maybe your memory is starting to come back then." Jiminy piped in.

"Maybe, I still don't feel like I know anything useful though." said Luna disappointedly.

"Oh I wouldn't say that," Jiminy said, "Little things like that are what make us who we are. If you like mysteries then that's already the first step in discovering things about ya. Eventually all those little teeny bits and bobs come together and you have yourself a personality. Kind of is like a story narrative when you think about it, a beginning and end and all the stuff in the middle."

"Huh, I never thought about it like that Jiminy but when you put it that way, it does make sense." Sora said.

"Yeah, thanks Jiminy. I'll keep that in mind." Luna said before they headed for the stairs which would take them to the Borough. As they were walking through, Luna heard a whooshing sound behind her. Turning around, her eyes widened and looked over to Sora before pushing him out of the way to avoid the giant wrecking ball attached to the crane swinging at him.

Sora, Luna and Yeul looked up but then ducked again as the ball came in for another round, "Why is the giant ball attacking us? Was this in anyone of the mysteries of yours Luna?"

"I don't remember any of them but if I had to hazard a guess I would say no." Luna answered rolling to the left and splitting up from Sora.

"Kupopo, why don't you fly up and see if anyone is operating the crane. Yeul, get away from here quickly!" Sora ordered.

"Right away kupo." Kupopo said before flying off.

"Be careful." Yeul expressed her nervousness of the situation as she ran off to the other side of the marketplace. Meanwhile, Sora and Luna summoned their Keyblades and shot several fire projectiles at the ball. The chain and with it the ball spun around and around in a perfect circle causing the two Keyblade wielders to have to dodge to get out of the circumference of where the ball could hit. Sora just about jumped out of the way of the ball for it to slam into one of the Loaders which were being used to remove debris. The Loader flipped on its side and was sent crashing straight into the wall no doubt sending it out of commission for good.

Kupopo soon returned, "It's weird Kupopo, there's no one in the driver's seat."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. It's a Heartless." Sora said as the ball stopped moving in circles and came swinging his way again. With little space to manoeuvre, Sora held up his Keyblade and was met with a powerful force as the ball smashed right through the Kingdom Key's block and knocked him into the wall. Luna was worried about her companion but did not have time to check up on him seeing her chance. She jumped in the air and cut through the chain with her Keyblade. The ball dropped heavily to the ground, Sora rolling to his side just in time to avoid the ball narrowly smashing his face open as it hit.

"Phew, nice work Luna. Nice work." Sora said dizzily as he struggled to get up. He used his Keyblade for support as his wobbly knees indicated his nervousness at the closeness of the situation.

"Look up, there's the Heartless." Jiminy said pointing up. Rising from behind the shops, a Possessor Heartless flew off into the sky before disappearing. As Yeul reappeared from her cover and joined up with the others, she too watched as the Heartless floated away.

"Well it's gone now. Let's keep going." Sora heaved himself up before asking Luna to lead on ahead. The group made their way down to the darkened Borough and Luna could not help but feel like her first dream was repeating all over again.

"Sora, you remember the dream I told you about? It was a long time ago but…"

"The one with something chasing you and your friend right?"

"Yeah," She was glad that Sora had remembered before continuing, "It's just that being here at night makes me think my dream. Running under this archway and heading past Merlin's house and running towards the street with those houses facing each other on either side, then going through the alley. I keep thinking I'll lose the dream because it's the one thing I've got a clue to who I am, but it's too ingrained in my mind I guess for me to forget it. While I'm glad, it does scare me at times."

Sora nodded and gave a smile, "Don't worry, you won't have to share the burden alone. Right guys?"

"Yup, you have me, Kupopo and Yeul, as well as everyone else along with ya." Jiminy said. Luna beamed and nodded as they went past the archway and towards Merlin's house. Yeul gave a timid smile in response but said very little. Now that Sora had thought about it, she had kept to herself quite a bit during the Gummi ride. Was it an anxiety issue, fear of going to a new world? Before he could address his concerns, they were already at Merlin's door. Giving a light tap on the door, they waited patiently while finding comfort in the light night air chill.

"Leon, what are you doing here at this- Oh, it's you guys." Yuna said as the three fairies appeared right in front of them.

"It's us. What are you guys doing here?" Sora asked.

"I really think we should look at who's at the door before we talk? We've made this mistake twice now." Paine muttered.

"Nah, it's too fun watching Yunie mess up!" Rikku exclaimed.

"Hey, it's not fair. Why do I have to always answer the door?" Yuna questioned.

"Because you're the bravest of us silly."

"Coming through, coming through. Hey move it!" Hearing the sound of quacking and a familiar chuckle caused Sora to grin madly.

"Donald! Goofy!"

"Sora!"

The three friends were quickly reunited with Goofy grabbing Donald and jumping onto Sora causing him to fall backwards into a stack of books.

"Well Merlin certainly ain't gonna like that." Cid snickered as he watched from his computer.

"Aw poopy. And we were just done with cleaning the place too." Yuna moaned.

"Just like old times, eh Sora?" Goofy clamoured.

"I don't remember being jumped on much and I'm not sure I can get used to it," Sora mumbled through pieces of fabric in his face. After pushing Goofy off him, he watched as him and Donald rolled onto the floor before speaking, "So what were you guys up to? Yen Sid gave you something to do right?"

Goofy nodded and saluted, "Yep, and mission accomplished!"

Donald groaned, "Enough showing off you big palooka."

Sora wittily remarked, "Aren't you the one that's usually showing off Donald? Let Goofy have some fun once in a while."

"Actually that would be you." Donald informed before continuing on to tell Sora and Luna of their mission to protect the cornerstone as well as the battle of Disney Castle.

"And Riku and Kairi are alright then?" Sora asked.

"Well if they weren't we would have told you." Donald said before glancing over to Yeul.

Sora turned around and then back before scratching his head, "Oh right, I brought someone along with me and Luna. Wait a minute, why am I explaining this to you? What are you, my mother?"

Luna smiled as she watched Sora and Donald's constant bickering glad that the former had finally seen his friends again after his hopes had been dashed of him travelling along with the two as well as Luna. Also in the room apart from them, the fairies and Cid were Chip and Dale. Luna turned to look at Yeul. The poor girl was probably completely scared and nervous, just like she had been. Well she still was in all honesty.

Luna started to introduce the crew, "Okay Yeul, that guy over there is Cid, though I don't really know him much but he seems like the techy type. Those three… who are you guys anyway?"

"Oh come on, you've never heard of the famous Gullwings before?" Rikku asked. No response followed eliciting annoyance from the girl.

"I knew we shouldn't have bothered working here. It's not like Leon's treasure is all that interesting anyway." Paine said.

"Okay, I'll make this quick before Rikku bursts out in flames of fury or something. I'm Yuna, she's Rikku and the boring one is Paine, kay?" Yuna said in a hushed tone.

"Riiiight. Got it," Luna nodded her head slowly before tapping Yeul on the shoulder and continuing on with her introduction, "The two near Sora are Donald and Goofy, they seem like a nice bunch but as I've said, haven't really gotten to know them yet so I'm looking forward to it and those two are the Gummi engineers for the ship, Chip and Dale," She then added in a whisper, "Kind of gets confusing telling which one is which."

Yeul nodded, "I think I'll be able to figure it out once I've spoken to them."

Cid got out from his seat and walked up taking the pen out of his mouth, "Nice to see you Luna and I see you brought a friend along."

"Yup, her name's Yeul. She's a seer, uh, is it okay that I tell him that?" She checked with Yeul who gave a quick nod in reply.

"A seer huh? Can't say I know exactly what that is but uh, make yourself at home. We have food in the fridge if you need it and uh… hey, don't touch that!" Cid quickly jumped in the way to stop her from reaching for the keyboard.

She withdrew her hands quickly, "Oh I'm sorry, I was just wandering about this computer over here. I haven't really used one before so…"

"Haven't used a computer? Girl, are you from the middle ages or something? Here, let me show you a real master at work," Cid cracked his knuckles before jumping onto the computer and pressing a few keys, "I'm not able to do much since the OS has been shut down but there are a few basic operations that the system still allows you to do such as keep and organize files for instance. The data on Ansem and the Heartless haven't been wiped out."

Luna peered over Cid's shoulder and watched as he pressed several keys to execute programs, most of which she didn't understand.

"So, would a hacker best describe you then?" Luna asked.

"If by hacker you mean programmer then yep, that pretty much describes me other than the other part which is my interest for Gummi Ships. I've been helping Chip and Dale here with new designs for your Gummi Ship."

"New designs?"

Cid put the pen back in his mouth before stretching, "Well o'course. Can't get around space with a broken navigation system now can ye?"

"So you know what the problem is with the background radiation and how to fix it then?" Luna leaned against the wall and folded her arms.

Chip replaced Cid as the explainer, "Well… no. At least we haven't figured out what the background radiation is, but we do know how to fix it. The current navigation system uses radio waves or Wi-Fi to transmit signals to your Gummi Ship from our castle. The new system-"

"Wait a second, I can tell this is going to be complex," Luna walked over and sat down on the bed for whispering for him to "Continue."

"So then we thought of what could use as an alternative for sending signals. Then, we had it in the form of acoustics and particles."

Dale continued, "From our examination of this background radiation it contained particles full of energy so what we would do is send the radio waves through like normal. The wave would hit the particles and cause them to vibrate so that they're converted as a sort of silent sonic wave which would be fed to the navigation system. The only problem is that our radio waves are too weak to make too much of a difference so we have to increase the frequency of the waves somehow and then your Gummi Ship's navigation system also needs to be able to understand the frequency of the waves since they'll be converted before they reach your ship."

"Yep, just as I thought… complex. And I didn't even understand a bit of it," Luna nodded, she had even considered tuning out halfway through, "Well I'll just leave you guys to get up to whatever it is you're doing then. Did you get that Sora?"

"Wasn't even listening." Sora said truthfully.

"You kids really need to learn to get with the times. Someday it might just save your life." Cid chided before turning back to the computer and giving further explanations to Yeul who looked on keenly.

"So where's Merlin?" Sora asked expecting to see the wizard in his own house at this time of night.

"I expect he's with Leon by now at the study." Paine answered.

Sora nodded, "Okay, what's up with those machines? Xanatos industries?"

"Hah, that's one of the first things I expected you to ask actually. Even Donald and Goofy there asked faster than you," Cid remarked before proceeding to explain the importance of the machines and their relation with the man behind it, David Xanatos. "He's supposedly coming to visit with the next few days and since it's not like you two can go anywhere without a ship then you'll probably be meeting him."

"So how's the journey been so far Luna?" Goofy asked.

"Wonderful! I've seen so many things now that I would have never believed were possible like that little guy for instance." Luna pointed to the doorway where Kupopo still stood. He seemed to be much like Yeul in that he seemed to be inspecting the appearance of this new world, maybe he was even deciding whether he would like for this world to be his home from now on.

"Well as long as you're enjoying it." Goofy gave a chuckle.

"Well I wouldn't say it's been all fun and games. Getting attacked by a giant wrecking ball isn't exactly my idea of fun." Luna walked up to them.

Cid took particular interest to this, "Giant wrecking ball? What are you talking about?"

"There was a Heartless taking control of a crane by the marketplace. I'm guessing that isn't exactly a common occurrence?" Sora asked.

"No idea what the Heartless do at night. This time of day is probably the most unsafe so I wouldn't advise looking for Riku and Kairi at this time if I were you." Cid answered.

"Ah, that explains why this place looks so deserted then. I thought it was weird because there were a lot of people around when I came here the first time." Luna reflected. She eventually decided to join in on the conversation with Sora, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy, getting to know the duck and dog better and having as much fun as she possibly could.

* * *

"Hey, you wanna wake him up first or shall I?"

"Come on Kairi, let him sleep."

"Well he does look rather cute when he's sleeping, I suppose..."

"You can keep those comments to yourself. I don't need them in my head."

"Oh Riku, ever so innocent you are. Very well, I guess I'll have to wake him up. Sora, wake up you lazy bum!"

Sora's eyes fluttered open trying to take in the big blue eyes staring down back at him. The startled boy jumped up almost immediately, it was enough for Kairi to retract from his face so as to avoid being hit. He rubbed his eyes before inspecting the two figures before him. He easily recognised the tall and muscular build of his best friend Riku and the shorter and slender yet womanly physique of Kairi.

Sora yawned, "Gimme a break Kairi, you can't just wake me up like that. What time is it anyway?"

Riku looked over to the clock on the wall and then back, "Half seven."

"And you decided to wake me up now of all times? And I was just starting to get a good dream as well."

"Ooh, tell me what it was about?" Kairi asked.

Sora blushed and lied quickly, "Oh, I was just flying around Neverland again with Peter." His dream had actually been a weird one, something which quite frankly disturbed him almost. He admitted though that at least it made up for his previous dreams. The same reel of Auron falling over into the maelstrom of the dead and Sora wanting to jump in after him was a constant reminder of how much he hated himself for being unable to do anything in that situation. It haunted him especially Auron's final words which felt like a whispering echo calling out to him.

He was on the islands and Riku had just given him a Paopu fruit much like he did as a joke a long time ago. And then as he was walking across the bridge, Kairi and Luna appeared, the former being behind him and the latter in front. The Sora in his dream had examined the Paopu fruit before looking backwards and forwards between the two girls. That was when Kairi had woken him up. He had dreamt about Kairi before, but he had never thought or dreamt of at least Luna as anything more than a friend.

_Darn the dream world for having slower rules of time. _Sora concluded as he slowly got out of bed and stretched his limbs. He, Riku and Kairi were in a hotel room in the downtown area of Radiant Garden which was near a park. Cid had advised him, Luna and Yeul do so as there was little space for all of them to stay at Merlin's house and the Gummi Ship was also out of the option as Cid, Chip and Dale had proclaimed that they would be assessing it throughout the night.

"I'm glad to know you guys are alright though," Sora swiped open the curtain drapes and looked outside. It seemed to be quite sunny outside, "you might as well inform me about what's happened while I was gone."

"Well Kairi and I have a hunch as to who is helping Maleficent further her plans. It's a pretty strong one too considering what he tried to do at Disney Castle." Riku started.

"Did he say his name was Abraxas?"

Kairi nodded slowly, "So you've met him then?"

"Yeah, whether I've wanted to meet him or not but he never really did anything. As far as I know he's taking orders from Maleficent." Sora informed them.

"Right, that's the impression we had. He smashed a fake cornerstone of light to pieces as well as injuring a few of the guards. The Heartless took care of the rest though." said Kairi solemnly.

"Donald and Goofy told me as much," Sora reached to his bedside table and picked up the puzzle box, "And he gave me this." He threw it to Riku.

Kairi closed in and looked at the box along with Riku, "It's a box? Does it have something inside?"

Riku shook the box quickly, "I don't hear anything. I don't know, maybe he knew about your weakness of solving Rubik's cubes."

"Oh very funny Riku but it isn't that kind of puzzle. I doubt even you could solve it." Sora gave a harsh and sarcastic laugh.

Riku laughed and glanced over at Kairi, "You know she was in absolute hysterics for a while worrying over you. She even took a while off training. You remember how dedicated she was to catch up to us? Well I guess something stopped her and it was probably a good thing too."

"Hey, I still want to catch up to you guys." Kairi replied.

"And now that your back she'll probably be training 24/7 again." Riku gestured to her to prove his point.

"Oh, you're blaming me huh? Who was the one who kept worrying about being taken over by darkness again and then tried to do everything on their own?" Sora asked jokily.

"Alright that's enough out of you." Riku grinned. He gave Kairi the box before grabbing Sora and pulling him into a headlock.

"Hey come on Riku, I just woke up. Have you no respect?" Sora protested struggling to get out of Riku's grasp but he knew it was useless. Trying to get out of one of Riku's headlocks was futile and he knew it from experience, well at least for him, someone like Wakka was a different story. Still, he was glad to even experience tiny pieces of what reminded him of being back with Riku and Kairi on the islands.

Riku eventually let go and Kairi sighed, "Boys and their wrestling, I just don't get it. Weird enough Selphie was interested in watching it on TV, at least for a while anyway. Anyway, how's Luna doing?"

"She's been doing amazing actually. She's actually completely different from when she started. She's more focused, more determined and confident and really good when it comes to handling the Keyblade…" Sora paused, "You know you could ask her this yourself. She's in the room across mine."

* * *

Luna spread the curtains wide apart and opened the window taking in the fresh air. She didn't know what it was but she felt more reinvigorated than ever. For one, maybe it was the fact that she wasn't sleeping in a bunk bed where she could constantly feel the ship vibrating and hear the hum of the engine. Another might be because she had gotten a dreamless sleep, something that often produced a mixture of fear and excitement in her.

Filled with more enthusiasm than usual, she skipped off to the bathroom and did her daily morning routine, choosing for whatever reason to have a cold shower. It seemed to sharpen her senses as the cold water fell down on her.

A while later and after getting dressed, as she walked out of the room, her eyes widened and her mouth fell open.

"What are you two doing here?" She asked Palom and Porom.

"Well I didn't wanna be here, I told her it would be rude to intrude on the private business of someone." Palom mumbled just loud enough for Luna to hear.

"You said no such thing. As if you could ever be that humble," Porom scolded and then turned to Luna, "We heard you were here from Cid and we decided to come and give you a present. Well really, I decided on it, he just complained."

"And there she goes, trying to make herself look all high and mighty. You see what I have to deal with here?" an annoyed Palom asked.

"Before you both go off on a tangent, what is the present? Actually, how are you two doing anyway? Still working on your magic?" Luna questioned sitting down on the bed.

"Absolutely. I could kick Merlin out of the park any day of the weak now." Palom grinned overconfidently.

"A great wizard such as Merlin could never be defeated by an ignorant brat like you Palom," Porom then added modestly, "I still think I could do with some work on my white magic. I'm sure you're already miles ahead of me Luna."

"I'm sorry, white magic?"

"It's a term we mages use in our world to refer to curative and defensive spells. The opposite would be black magic which are the more offensive spells." Porom answered.

Luna nodded as the younger sat on the bed with her, "Ah, I didn't know there was a name for them, but I doubt I'm better than you Porom. I really only know cure magic and it's pretty weak."

Luna then remembered what she was told from Yen Sid about the twins' world being destroyed and thought about bringing it up but eventually decided against it. She didn't want to bring up any painful memories especially if they didn't want to discuss it in the first place. Looking at them now though, it was hard to believe that these kids were victims and lone survivors of their world's destruction. They seemed almost too happy and too carefree.

"So tell me Luna, what is it like? Going to other worlds?" Porom asked. Palom actually seemed interested as he soon joined them.

Luna felt as if she was about to tell a fairy tale to put a bunch of children to sleep. Nonetheless, she was all too happy to recount her adventures so far to Palom and Porom feeling herself to be in a completely eager mood at the moment.

"Travelling to other worlds in a Gummi Ship is an amazing experience. You get to see the stars and it's a complete spectrum of colours and hues. At one point I got to see a nebula, all I can say is that you have to be there to really admire it, it's hard to describe in words. Sora calls it the Sea of the Skies and it really lives up to its name. And then you get to the worlds and they're so different from one another. They each have their own rules and atmosphere about them and I each time I got to a world I worried that I wouldn't fit in. I was wrong. They were so welcoming to me and Sora and I've already met some great friends." Luna reflected with ardor.

"That's amazing Luna, I'm so jealous." Porom admitted.

"Meh, I was hoping you'd get to the kicking butt parts but they never came. What a disappointment," A quick look from Porom told Palom to quickly amend his statement, "That is for a person looking for that. For a person going for the experience I guess that's great."

"Thanks you two. Now, what was that present you were talking about?" Luna asked curiously, "You barely even know me. There wasn't any need to buy me anything."

"Nonsense. There's just something about you Luna that makes me admire you, even when we first met. I guess you could call it an aura of mystery," Porom got up from the bed and walked out of the room, soon returning with clothes. It was a red polka dot top blouse along with a matching skirt, "I hope it fits. I kinda guessed your size but you seem about the same size as Kairi, maybe a bit shorter."

Luna felt a tear fall down her cheeks, "You really didn't have to," She stood up and walked slowly over to Porom and drew out her trembling hand before allowing the pieces of clothing to rest in her palm, "Thank you so much. Palom get over here." She bent down and hugged Porom.

"But I really didn't do anything." Palom shook his hands in reluctance.

"Doesn't matter. You're both wonderful friends," Luna gestured. Palom sighed before walking over to her lazily. His distance was just enough that Luna could draw him in too. She eventually let go before looking at the clothes, "I guess I should try them out."

"Please do. I can't wait to see what you look like. It's a shame if it doesn't fit though." Porom said.

"I'm sure it will," Luna assured her before stepping into the bathroom and closing the door behind her. A few moments later she popped out clad in her new dress with her denim jacket still on top of the polka dotted blouse, "So… how do I look?"

"Absolutely gorgeous, oh and thank goodness it fits too. I knew it would look great on you Luna." Porom praised.

"It does look great, though I can't exactly imagine myself fighting Heartless in this. Might as well wear it while I'm here though," said Luna before looking outside, "Hey, do you know if they sell Ice Cream around here? I could take you guys out for it sometimes."

"Now you're talking my lingo," Palom jumped in excitement, "And I'm pretty sure Scrooge McDuck has set up a shop."

"Scrooge? I know him." Luna nodded making a mental note to check up on the duck and his nephews later on. She also remembered her deal with Sora back in the Land of Dragons: A competition to see who could make the best Ice Cream.

There was a continuous knocking on the door. Luna gave a bright smile to Palom and Porom before walking over and opening the door.

"Hey Luna- Oh wow! You look amazing, where did you get that?" Kairi asked, behind her was Riku who gave Luna a pleasant nod, he seemed to be holding something but it was too folded up to see.

"Actually, it was a gift from Palom and Porom." Luna slid out of the way to allow the two into the room.

"Ah, I'm not the only one they got something for then at least. They are so kind, aren't they?"

"So, why aren't you wearing yours Kairi?" Luna looked over Kairi just briefly enough the see she wasn't really wearing anything new that Luna had not seen her wear the last time she had met with the girl.

"Oh, just alternating. Who knows, maybe you'll get to see it very soon?" Kairi winked.

"I hope I do," Luna smiled before looking behind the two, "You haven't seen Sora yet?"

"Oh we did. But then he went back to sleep," Riku looked over to Kairi before adding, "We kind of have something to ask you, if you don't mind."  
Luna looked on quizzically, "Okay… shoot. I'm not sure of how much help I can be though. Well I guess that depends on the question… okay, I'm rambling, sorry about that, continue."

"Well, we found a black coat under your bed back at where you and Kairi slept before you left," He held up the black coat, "Is this yours?"

"We don't want to put pressure on you Luna," Kairi added quickly, "It's just that we need to find out where this comes from."

Luna hesitated before giving her answer, "This might sound silly but I was wearing that in my dream which I had before we met at Disney Castle. I don't really have much to go off on except that there were supposed to be two of those but Sora and I only found one. So, to answer in short, I guess it's mine but I'm not entirely sure."

Kairi nodded, "Right, you lost your memory after all, that's perfectly understandable. Done with your pestering then Riku?"

Riku seemed to remain unconvinced of something and Luna didn't blame him though she certainly did want to be seen in a positive light rather than the fuel of speculation.

Eventually the male teen relented, "Yeah, I guess. It's just that the guy that attacked Disney Castle also wore this coat and this isn't exactly something you'd go walking around in unless you wanted to be classified as suspicious. Do you know what the cloak does?"

"Not really. I assumed it was just supposed to give the impression of the mysterious." Luna said truthfully.

"Well that, i-it does look rather cool I'll admit," Riku stumbled, "Uhm, anyway that… and it also cloaks the person wearing it from darkness when they're crossing by means of a corridor of darkness." Riku told her. Luna said nothing.

"That's enough Riku! It's like you're trying to force information out of her at this point. Information that she doesn't have." Kairi defended Luna.

"Huh? I was only asking. I didn't mean… Sorry, if I came off as a little forceful there. I'm not really good at this." Riku apologised.

"Right, now back to cheery thoughts. Give it back to her Riku." Kairi gestured for him to hand over the coat.

Riku held out the coat but Luna instead just stared at it. Her thoughts running to a place she really did not want to think about. Riku's voice rang in her head again and again, "it also cloaks the person wearing it from darkness". Somehow, she was starting to doubt that the answers to her identity would be found easily as she had first thought.

* * *

**Well done Riku, you truly are an interesting character. Also, I had to delay the YRP mission to the next chapter since this reunion took up about 6,000 words. But next time we shall meet up with Leon and the others. And a duel between Kairi and Luna! I wonder who will win. Until next time, thank you for the reviews, the favs and the views in general and hopefully I'll have more time to do this after my exams. **


	43. Gullwings Mission: Treasure Awaits!

**So this chapter contains filler and yet I do admire it because it leads on to something greater. This chappie and the next focus a lot on interactions between Sora and Riku. **

**Changing the subject but E3 is coming up soon and I'm hoping Versus XIII appears, I don't care whether it's XV or not but I just want it out of the way so we get closer to KH3. Since they're releasing some Noctis perfume a few days after that can't be just a coincidence. Or can it? Square why do you troll us so.**

* * *

Chapter 43

Gullwings Mission: Treasure Awaits!

As Sora, Luna, Riku and Kairi passed through the suburbs surrounding the hotel on their way to Merlin's house, Sora faced the praise and congratulations of the many of the town's populace. Sora felt the burden of having to endure the repeating amounts of "Hey Sora" and other such positive greetings. Frankly, he was starting to get annoyed by it.

"Don't worry. We had to deal with it too." Riku assured him when Sora complained of his newfound popularity.

"But I didn't really do anything much, just defeated some old man," then Sora added after consideration, "And saved the town… and rescued someone from a burning building."

"Okay, we get the point," Kairi told him, "I'm not too happy with it either but I'm sure everything will go back to normal in a while. People see something exciting happening and it's the big news for a few days before people eventually forget and go back to living their lives. It's just that instead of days this will probably be months."

"…or maybe even years."

"Not helping Luna."

"Sorry."

Eventually the group ran across a woman and her child. Sora gave Luna a nudge and grinned, "You know that burning building I was talking about? That's the child that was in there. It was just a spur of the moment kind of thing I guess. There was this guy, Vanitas, who was responsible for it."

"Oh, I read about him in the journal. He's the guy that looks like you then?" Luna asked.

"He doesn't look like me, he just- sort of resembles a- a few of my characteristics. Yep." Sora poorly defended still not accustomed to the fact of Vanitas looking like him.

"Well, there can only be one Sora." Kairi said.

"And thank goodness for that as well." Riku added.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora frowned, "You were the one wanting to be just like me."

"You wanted to be like me. What does that tell you? That I'm cool and you're not." Riku wittily remarked.

"Oh you're on now." Sora said chasing after the already running Riku.

Luna turned to Kairi, "Are they always like that?"

Kairi gave a noticeably smug smile, "You should see them back on the islands."

Sora and Riku eventually stopped by the woman and the child and were met with an immediate greeting, particularly Sora.

"Thank you so much for saving my child. I don't know where we would be right now without you. I am forever in your gratitude." The joyous mother expressed. Sora couldn't deny that the impressive amount of heart she had put into her little speech had won Sora over. The child, a small girl probably no older than six, smiled and nodded her head. In some ways, Sora was kind of reminded of the time he saw Kairi and her grandmother.

"All in a day's work ma'am. Glad I could get her out in time," Sora then ruffled the little girl's hair, "And how are you doing today? Made any new friends?"

"I've made friends with you and you. I'm Stephanie." The girl had a broad smile on her face as she spoke and Sora and Riku had to constantly restrain themselves from melting into a pool of liquid right there.

Kairi and Luna soon caught up with the boys, "Aw, she's so cute. I'm Kairi and this is Luna."

Stephanie smiled, "Yay, more friends!"

Luna bent down and placed Stephanie's hands in hers, "Hahaha, she would be a great little sister. Listen Stephanie, we have to head off now, remember, listen to your mother, brush your teeth, do your homework, eat your vegetables and-"

"You can just ignore her," Sora said loudly talking over Luna, "I mean who wants that? Fun, fun and more fun. That's my motto. Between you and me, school is…" Sora's eyelids drooped and he snored loudly.

Stephanie giggled and her mother smiled, "Well we hope to see you all again. Goodbye now and try not to be strangers."

Strangers. That would be almost impossible if not definitely impossible in the current climate and things did not seem like they would be changing for a while. Though as they continued their walk, Sora did wonder if it was such a bad thing thing to be noticed after all when they met people like that.

* * *

The door opened once again for Sora, Luna, Riku and Kairi to reveal Yuna, Rikku and Paine smiling back at them.

"Again?" Luna asked finding it humorous that the fairies seemed ready to open the door to just about anyone thinking they were Leon.

"No. This time I knew that it was you guys coming along. You know why? Because everyone else is here so HA!" Yuna rolled out her tongue before flying away.

"Someone's on her fairy pills." Paine said as Sora and the others allowed themselves in. It was a full room with Leon, Cid and Merlin by the computers, Yuffie and Aerith in the back, Donald, Goofy, Max and Yeul were all chatting animatedly to the left of them, Cloud and Tifa sitting on the bed as well as the three fairies. There was also another woman that Sora had never seen before also sitting with Cloud and Tifa.

"Are we having a party or something? Why didn't you guys invite me?" Sora joked as they all looked up from what they were doing.

Riku shrugged before replying wittily, "Probably because you were too busy sleeping."

"Hey Sora, there's a guy with similar spiky hair to yours over there," Luna commented, "Did you two share the same stylist?"

Sora frowned, "There's nothing wrong with my hair if that's what you're trying to say. I think this hairstyle should be more popular, don't you Cloud?"

"Don't bring me into this." Cloud murmured before looking at the wall.

"Ever the charmer, aren't you?" Tifa grinned before looking over to Luna, "But yeah, that's Cloud, he may seem like he doesn't care but he's been through a lot of things lately. You'll learn to love him, if you haven't already," Tifa then placed her hand on the other girl's shoulder, "And I'm sure you two have never seen her before."

When Sora shook his head the woman stood up, "Hi, it's nice to finally meet the Keyblade Master. I'm Rinoa and I take it you're Sora? Squall couldn't stop talking about you and your incredible feats."

"It's Leon." The man corrected.

"Oops. Sorry, already forgot." Rinoa giggled.

"I take it you know him then?" Sora asked.

"She's Squall's girlfriend!" Yuffie claimed excitedly. Sora found this hard to believe. For one, Leon had never really shown any romantic feelings or attachments to anyone and he usually liked to keep to himself. Another thing was that he had never mentioned this Rinoa at all during Sora's visits to the world previous.

"No, she isn't my girlfriend," Leon blushed, something quite alien and out of character for him, "She's a long-time friend who I used to know. That was then, about eleven years ago before our world was attacked." Leon clutched his arm as if her were thinking heavily about something.

"Kill the happy mood already why don't you." Cid stated going back to his typing.

"So how have you guys been doing, we haven't seen you two in a while. Oh, this is Luna. She recently came here about a month ago." Aerith introduced to Rinoa. Rinoa and Luna shook hands and greeted each other. Luna stepped back and explained about her journey with Sora in detail to the others from arriving in Wonderland to fighting off giant Titans in Olympus Coliseum.

"When you describe it like that, I really want to go along with you guys." Goofy chuckled.

"Well, there's nothing stopping you guys coming now right?" Sora smiled gleefully before turning to Yeul, "Hey Yeul, where's Jiminy and Kupopo?"

"They said they were off looking around the town. They shouldn't take too long." Yeul responded.

Sora nodded silently wondering if the two knew where they were going, "You met Riku and Kairi yet?"

"Oh yes, we met earlier in the morning. They've been very nice to me." Yeul said softly.

Luna grinned, "How are you enjoying being in your first new world Yeul? Crazy isn't it?"

"…It is. I think I'm getting adjusted to it though." Yeul answered after thinking about it.

"Glad you're getting comfortable," Leon said before turning to Sora, "So do you have a plan after Chip and Dale fix the Gummi Ship?"

"I'm going to take Luna to meet with Namine in Twilight Town. Then after that, I guess we continue looking for her world." Sora planned. It would be a good plan as well since Twilight Town was close to Radiant Garden, though not as close as Disney Town. After that they could then probably continue on past Radiant Garden to other worlds.

"Namine? Well then, I'm coming along with you." Kairi spoke in an ecstatic manner. Sora was sure that Kairi was worried about how Namine was doing and coping with her own body. Sora felt the same way with Roxas, Xion and Ventus.

"And that means me too I suppose? Can't go along without your teacher." Riku grinned, his words masking his true purpose of visiting, which was to see Terra, Aqua and Xion, the latter of which Riku had never revealed to Sora exactly how he had met her, only simply saying "It was while you were asleep" to answer his questions.

"Then it's decided. We're all going!" Max jumped in suddenly causing an uneasy silence to fill the room. He laughed nervously and slouched a bit, "Or maybe you guys do that and uh, I'll just… study?"

Goofy guffawed and embraced his son in, "Look at my son, eager to become just like his old man. Tell you what Maxie, you study hard enough and you can come along with us, whaddya say?"

"I say stop scratching my head." Max grumbled annoyed and flushing a deep red. Luna could still briefly remember the conversation that she had with Max back at Disney Castle. It had only been a brief one and he had only responded in 'subtle' sarcastic jibes which turned out to be not so subtle after all, but she was willing to try and talk to him again if he wanted. She hoped that her new found experience in visiting other worlds may help to form closer bonds with him.

The group eventually decided to settle down for lunch while continuing their hearty conversations with one another. Merlin had cleared the room of the small circular table and had instead conjured a longer and rectangular one, just wide enough in length to almost stretch from the bookcases to the desk where Pooh's storybook lay.

The fifteen of the large group of sixteen gathered around the table, with Cloud choosing to pass on the meal and go out. The fairies had also long left Merlin's house by then. Sora, Riku, Kairi and Luna were quite surprised to see that all fifteen of them could fit though they did have to squeeze in to get everyone around the table. In entered Aerith's freshly baked soufflé and Sora in particular almost melted from the sight and smell of it. It was the most exquisite thing he had ever beheld and he, Luna and Kairi could not help but congratulate the girl several times over for her amazing work.

"Oh I hope I did get it right, it did take me several tries." Aerith had said further commenting on the recipe to Kairi.

"It's brilliant. You've really outdone yourself this time Aerith." Kairi spoke with a big smile on her face. Kairi was completely right. As Sora's tongue touched the thick lemon flavoured cream of the soufflé, he felt the urge to jump out of his seat and make an utter fool of himself but somehow he managed to resist the urge. He'd probably have to do that when he was alone instead because he felt that this was one taste that would not be so easily gotten rid of.

Opposite him, Yeul and Cid seemed to be talking more about technology, something that Sora was surprised seeing Yeul taking such a keen interest in that kind of department. He could also tell that Luna was listening in briefly before she turned her attention to getting to know Rinoa and Yuffie. Sora wasn't sure whether either of the two could keep up with the female ninja's energetic ideals and it seemed as if the soufflé had somehow made her ridiculously hyper, she even seemed to bouncing like a spring in her seat. Eventually, because they were talking about girly things that he had no interest in (he scowled when Rinoa mentioned something about rating the males) and instead turned his attention to Riku who had been staring at his plate for the longest time.

Sora raised his eyebrows, "What's up Riku? You look rather down, pun intended. Oh, it's their conversation I bet. Did you hear what they rated you? Not as good as me I bet."

"I'm not interested in hearing that nonsense, you know me Sora. Plus I'm much better looking than you but that's not what I'm wondering right now. Why don't we take a walk, getting a bit stuffy in here isn't it?"  
Sora grinned suggestively, "Oh Riku, are you asking me out? So it's come to this huh?"

Riku babbled in a disconcerted tone, "Wh-what? Are y- What in the hell are you on about? Did Yuffie spike your food or something? Yes Sora, yes I want to ask you out." His sarcastic tone seemed so threatening that Sora gave a boisterous laugh.

"Hey, you're the one who usually pulls this stuff on me. Is this revenge I am finally getting? Oh yes I think it is." Sora continued laughing fortunately having finished the last of the soufflé a while ago. Had still been eating, one could only guess the disastrous consequences that would ensue.

"Sora, you're ruining my cool. Please. Also I think that Paopu joke still tops this." Riku got up from the table.

Sora followed suite before frowning, "Wait, what are you talking about? I thought you wanted me to give it Kai-" He stopped and watched Riku's mischievous look on his face, "Oh I think I hate you right now."

* * *

Sora could not help but turn his head every time he heard the sound of machinery nearby. Even as Riku talked he seemed to find himself easily distracted by the world around him. If Riku had realised this he had hardly brought it up during their walk. Not only Sora but Riku had also been completely taken aback by the noise that surrounded them, something they were not quite used to here or back at their islands. It was a truly marvellous sight to see the rebuilding of a world.

"You know Kairi's going to take any chance she can get to prove her strength against Luna." The mention of this topic seemed to drag Sora out of his state of awe.

Sora placed his hands comfortable around his head, "Who can blame her? Let them fight it out if they want, just as long as they don't kill each other. Just so you know I won't be rooting for a particular person."

"Kairi has really changed though huh, she's… different I guess," Riku tried to find the right word, "Maybe even scary."

"Kairi? Scary? How so?" Sora asked.

"Well you've seen it even on the islands. Ever since the fight against Xehanort, she says that she always wants to become as strong as us. I've seen her training while you were gone. She's dedicated to it, too dedicated actually. I'm worried for her."

"So you want me to talk to her then?" Sora clarified for him.

"If you could, that would be great. She won't listen to me, that's for sure," Riku stopped and stared at the three small fairies in front of him, "What are you three doing?"

"Can we not go anywhere without the teeniest of privacy? Just the teeniest?" Yuna glowered. The Gullwings were holding what seemed to be a scroll though their tiny hands were having trouble in carrying the item.

"Should we tell them?" Paine asked.

Rikku looked backwards and forwards before taking the map and dragging it rather slowly over to Sora and Riku, "Ugh, can you hold this for a sec. No peeking!"

Sora accepted the scroll and watched as the Gullwings went back to whisper among themselves. He heard things like "Shall we tell them?" and "What if they take it from us?" but Sora was more preoccupied with opening the piece of parchment. Riku peeked over in interest and sighed.

"Hey, I said no peeking." Rikku yelled flying over and trying to snatch the scroll away from Sora though he quickly threw it over to Riku who clutched it tightly.

"A treasure map?" Sora began, "You guys didn't steal this by any chance did you?"

"How dare you? We are treasure hunters, not thieves. There's a difference," Yuna snapped angrily before saying, "Well, I guess we might as well tell you now. We have found some of the most awesome treasure that you will possibly ever behold in your lifetime and it's buried beneath the old ruins. With this map, we'll dig that treasure up and it's a score for the Gullwings!"

"So you haven't found it yet? Then how do you know it's awesome?" Riku enquired.

"Because it says that on the map, duh! You looked at it, you should know." Rikku crossed her arms and waited impatiently as Riku opened the map back up and looked down at it with Sora. Sure enough it did have the words "AWESOME TREASURE" on the parchment in all its capital glory.

Riku laughed in a mocking way, "So? That still doesn't mean it's awesome."

"Hey, do you think we could tag along and help you search?"

Riku was dumbfounded by Sora's sudden outburst. Was he serious?

"Are you serious?" He found himself asking his own thoughts aloud.

"Of course I am. Come on Riku, it'll be fun," Sora then added after consideration, "just like the old days when we went around exploring the islands."

"Those old days… you make it sound as if we're a bunch of old men." Riku grinned.

"If it helps I think you two could easily pass as old me-Mmph!" Rikku's mouth was quickly covered by Yuna.

"I am so sorry about my friend here. Of course we'll let you come along. That means more victory for the Gullwings!" Yuna made a V sign with her remaining hand.

"Okay, why not? I'm willing to help though if you three try anything fishy we're gone." Riku felt however that they wouldn't try anything funny. They had no idea what the treasure was and two normal size humans would be their best bets of getting the treasure out, not to mention any Heartless along the way.

"Fair enough, so what are we waiting for?" Paine's melancholic voice rang out. Sora and Riku seemed to find it hard to believe that the usually secluded was a member of the pixie group. In contrast, Paine was a lot more quiet and reserved compared to the energetic and annoying Rikku, though Yuna wasn't exactly either of them, being more of the clumsy and cutesy member of the trio. It was a rather weird mixture to have but on the other hand the variety was probably what made them friends to begin with. It was kind of the same with Sora and Riku.

"The X marks the spot right?" Sora questioned in a confusing tone as they walked through the Bailey.

"Did you seriously ask that? When does X not mark the spot? You have a lot to learn about treasure hunting." Rikku chided.

"That's not the point. The map is saying that the X we're after is at Maleficent's old hideout, I was hoping we wouldn't have to go that far." Sora looked out of the window to see Villain's vale in the distance. Before it, the great maw stretched out as far as the eye could see, Sora remembering it most famously for his, Donald and Goofy's fight against the 1000 Heartless when Maleficent had tried to retake the world for her own.

"You wanted to come along, don't complain," Rikku continued after Paine whispered something into her ear, "Besides, we aren't crazy enough to take you guys all the way out there. We're using the secret underground passageway instead. It's a shortcut so we'll cut right across the mountains."

"Underground Passageway?" Sora and Riku's synchronised voices rang out in alarm.

Riku was the first to speak, "I didn't know of any secret passage."

"Well yes, that's why it's a secret." Yuna flew around the boy cheerfully. Sora could tell Riku was getting irritated by the second.

"So how do you three know of this secret passageway anyway?" Sora asked giving a questioning glance at the three. Riku nodded, very much interested to hear this too.

"Why? We just discovered it really? Yep, not like Malefi-" Yuna was dragged away quickly by Paine.

"We just found it. Done. Let's move on." Paine dragged Yuna away while the girl apologised profusely. Sora and Riku looked at each other, both possibly afraid to speak out about this little adventure maybe not being such a good idea after all. Riku was convinced the blame was on Sora convincing him to come along with a bunch of crazy pixies while Sora blamed Riku for going along with him so easily instead of taking the time to knock some sense into him.

The strange group continued on past the Bailey and down the stairs towards the restoration site with Sora and Riku taking care of the few Heartless that had appeared. It was a relief to the both of them to be fighting together once again. While Riku usually minded his own business, Sora could admit that he enjoyed showing off in front of Riku and the older teen seemed to take great satisfaction in it because it was really Sora's way of telling him that the spiky haired youth was jealous. Though it worked in reverse as well.

"The sewers? You've got to be kidding. This is your idea of an underground passage?" Riku said as they stopped at the restoration site. Machines were busy at work here knocking down walls and making cement. Below Sora, Riku and the Gullwings was the manhole cover which had been established as the entrance.

"Oh, it's not that bad. Trust me, if it were I would so not be going down there." Rikku informed him. Sora's reluctance of heading into an unknown sewer hardly matched that of his thirst to see what the treasure would be leading him to bend down and dig his fingers under the holes of the lid. With a heave of a tug, he managed to pop the lid off and placed it to the side before looking down.

Riku joined him at his low level and examined what was below, "It seems pretty dark down there. How well do you know the structure of this passageway?"

"Actually… that's the thing. We've never actually been down here before." Yuna gave a nervous laughter however she could see that Sora and Riku were both displeased and stopped almost immediately.

"Then how do you know it doesn't smell?" Sora asked beginning to think he was never going to get a straightforward answer from these three. They always did seem to beat around the bush when it came to such questions.

"They're not really sewers per say. Sure a part of it may be for waste but there's actually a underground cavern below, or at least that's what Ma- someone told us," Yuna quickly corrected herself at the sight of the scornful Paine, "Who knows? Maybe there's lots of treasure in there as well."

Sora gave a firm nod, "I'll go down first just in case." He placed his left foot on the descending ladder and started climbing down slowly. It wasn't long before he found his footing indicating that he had reached the bottom. Looking up he could see the small hole of light from which he had climbed down from. Turning around he summoned his Keyblade allowing it to charge resulting in the key glowing brightly illuminating the dark room. He was in a small enclosed space and ahead of him seemed the only way of progressing, a narrow crevice that could be passed through to reach the other side. While the fairies would have an easier time getting through there, Sora and Riku would have to squeeze through the crack.

"Good thing I'm not claustrophobic," Sora whispered to himself before calling out to the others, "Okay, you can come on down!"

The three fairies flew on down slowly followed by Riku who came by way of the ladder. Sora gestured for the three fairies to go on ahead and report on what they found.

"Uh, it's big. Really big and by that I mean really wide and open past here." Yuna told them from the other side.

"Okay, we're coming through. Hey Riku, make sure you don't get stuck. Kairi still needs you for her training you know?" Sora quipped. He summoned his Keyblade away and slowly started to slide through the crack adjusting himself accordingly.

"Oh sorry, hope I'm not in the way too much." Riku smiled before following after Sora. As they sidestepped through the crevice, they found it increasingly hard to manoeuvre and the surrounding walls push up close against them. Even Riku had to admit that he might not actually be able to get through especially when the Secret Place back on the Destiny Islands was too small for him to walk in when it came to the long tunnel which led to the actual cave.

"Reminds you of somewhere?" Riku asked in an attempt to stir memories within Sora. In hindsight, this may not have been a good thing as Sora seemed to slow down considerably as he thought.

"Oh yeah, the secret place. You remember you and me used to go down there all the time right? When we were really young, that was before Kairi came to the islands. Why'd you stop going there?"

"There was nothing there for me anymore," Riku said finding only the wall to look at as he feared for turning his head, "It was boring and I thought it was childish to go on those adventures. You know there was no monster right?"

"Of course there wasn't, but there easily could've been. Then you would have believed me about Santa Claus." Sora said.

"You're never going to let that go are you?" Riku asked having experienced the jolly old man himself on his most recent visit to Christmas Town.

"No." Sora and Riku said together then both laughed. Sora finally emerged out on the other side along with the fairies and his reaction was newsworthy to Yuna and Rikku's giggles.

"Wow! Riku you gotta see this. This is… this is something else alright." Sora said in awe as he examined the large cavern. It was similar in appearance to the cavern of remembrance that he had explored with Donald and Goofy a long time ago. There was a big difference between this cave and that one however in that there were no doors anywhere and the area stretched on for what seemed like miles. Apart from that it was similar in the many pathways and platforms which it was home to.

Riku eventually came out and gasped in surprise and amazement, "Who even has the time to build this do you think?"

Sora hummed, "Maybe a person that has the time to build this?"

Riku resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "Thanks for the answer genius. But it must have been the work of multiple people, probably to store something maybe? Or is it a mineshaft?"

"How can you tell that much? I get that they may want to store something but a mineshaft?" Sora asked.

"You don't do reconnaissance do you? Trust me Sora, you might want to try it, it's very useful in figuring out strategy. Look down below. You see those tyre marks across the dirt? They're probably from some vehicle that here a long time ago, and-"

"Oh please stop, you're starting to sound like a certain creepy scientist I know," Sora interrupted, "Anyway, let's head deeper into this place. I have a feeling it's going to be our lucky day."

* * *

Luna looked up and down across the street but could see no sign of Sora and Riku. The two had disappeared suddenly leaving the remaining gang to question their whereabouts. Not that long had passed since the restoration committee had broken up after lunch either though Luna, Kairi, Aerith, Rinoa, Donald and Goofy had wanted to spend some time together along with the two boys. Adding the missing Jiminy and Kupopo into the equation and things couldn't have gotten any better.

_It was the rating game wasn't it? They overheard. I told Rinoa I didn't want to play but she simply insisted_. She defended herself taking another look around.

"Found anything yet?" Kairi's voice came from behind her. Luna turned around and shook her head.

"Nope. I'm sure they'll be fine though. I don't know Riku much but he looks like he can handle both himself and Sora just fine." Luna replied.

"Oh, you have no idea. They both rely on each other but Riku seems to do most of the work. I'm not sure if Sora told you this but at one pointed we wanted to leave our home and go to other worlds and we created this raft. Riku did most of the work, about 65 per cent of the work." Kairi gabbed.

"But then at least the other 35 per cent would be-"

"I would say I did about 25 per cent."

"Oh," Luna said quickly taking back follow-up praise of Sora, "well… that isn't that bad I guess. But I did hear about the raft and I did know to some extent that Sora didn't do much work on it," Luna paused and looked at the auburn haired girl for a while before speaking once again, "You seem to know Sora very well. So I take it you're the best of friends or are you…"

"What? I-I no! It's nothing like t-that. We're not dating if that's what you're asking." Kairi stuttered nervously.

"Ah, that's good," Luna realised what she just said and went into a stammer herself, "No wait, that's not what I mean. I meant that I hoped that you weren't jealous with me spending time with Sora is all."

"No no, I'm perfectly fine with it," She then added more casually, "Just make sure he doesn't do anything crazy."

"Yeah, I've heard that before," Luna thought back to her talk with Meg about looking after Sora, "Say Kairi, what do you say to having a quick duel? I didn't get my match against Sora so I'm kind of battle hungry."

Kairi's nervousness seemed to lessen significantly upon hearing this, "I'm up for it, but we can't do it in the middle of the street… Ooh, I know the perfect place."

Kairi's newfound eagerness had led them past the Bailey to the Castle Gates, a place Luna recalled as having been to before as it had been where she had first met Palom and Porom. The paving and condition of the area had been much improved, different to what it had been six months ago when Kairi had last came here. Leon had proposed it would serve as the new Gummi Ship hangar and Kairi was interested to see the area develop into that. Just up ahead was the ravine trail leading down to the Great Maw.

"Okay, you ready for this?" Luna asked as she and Kairi stood apart, Keyblades both in hand.

"As I'll ever be. Don't hold back." Kairi announced.

"I'll try not to." Luna smirked before rushing forward. Kairi stood her ground and waited until the brunette was close enough before dancing around her and pushing her back.

Luna was taken aback by this and decided to change to a more defensive stance to reflect Kairi's own while analysing her opponent. Kairi held her Keyblade behind her to the right for the most part exposing her left side. In terms of defending, Luna would have the upper hand in such a situation where Kairi kept the same position when fighting, but that was hardly realistic thinking. She expected Kairi would alternate probably to cover for the speed and strength of each blow.

Luna tried running up to her again but instead of attacking directly jumped to the side at the last moment. Just as she expected Kairi had tried to do the same thing again but had failed allowing Luna to knock Kairi away with a horizontal swipe of her Dream Seeker.

Kairi grunted as she got back up and smiled before running towards Luna.

_She's switching tactics. Guess I got on her nerves a little_. Luna grinned back before running toward Kairi. _Well two can play at that game_.

Blows were exchanged as the two's weapons clashed under the bright sun. Each of them tried to outsmart the other, some of their tries succeeded while others failed. Kairi's tactic changed relentlessly from physical to magic, magic that was even more powerful than Luna's. However, in terms of speed and physical ability, Luna felt that she could do just enough to avoid most of the attacks flying her way and prioritised on attacking the left side of Kairi's body in particular.

Kairi sent three separate Fira projectiles at Luna who did a sliding dash to avoid them as well as get closer to the magic user. As she came out of the dash she flipped at an acute angle and hurled her Keyblade downwards diagonally. Kairi was just able to move out of the way of the attack by purposely unbalancing herself. Straightening herself quickly, she thrust her Keyblade into the air performing thunder magic. Luna slid around to behind Kairi and was about declare the match over when Kairi slammed her Keyblade into the ground and used Stun Impact to knock Luna backwards and onto the floor.

"Looks like I win." Kairi held her hand out for the dizzy Luna to take. Luna's vision seemed to spin around momentarily and she found herself half leaning half standing. The light from the sun in her eyes certainly weren't helping. Eventually she shook herself out of her stupor and blinked rapidly for a while to make sure she was still in her own body.

"And I was so close too. Good work Kairi." Luna praised.

"Actually you gave me a run for my money too. You were faster than I thought you would be." said Kairi. She followed on by casting a cure spell on both herself and Luna though the two hardly felt any pain to warrant a healing. The adrenaline had not yet worn of it seemed with both combatants' pulse beating rapidly with vigor.

"I guess we both have things we need to work on. Why don't we train with each other for a while then?" Luna suggested.

"That would help a lot, Riku keeps slacking off when it comes to training me but I guess it's because he thinks I'm overdoing it," Kairi admitted, "So do you want to start now? What should we do first?"

Luna grinned, "Well for starters you can help me learn that move. Is that Sora's?"

Kairi nodded, "Yep, stun impact is what he calls it. But I do warn you that it's kind of difficult to learn."

"I doubt it could be that hard, especially compared to running under the hot sun for an hour while carrying a bunch of luggage," Luna said before sighing, "Actually, let's take a break first. Is there a water fountain around here by any chance?"

* * *

**Yes the Riku and Rikku thing is quite annoying isn't it? Don't worry, it'll probably get worse. So more Sora and Riku character development in the next chapter and we finally get to see what this treasure is. Also, is anyone up for an adventure in the one hundred acre wood? **


	44. Raiders of the Secret Cavern

**FINALLY finished with my exams and now I can focus on DD so that will mean more updates! I've always considered Radiant Garden an excellent world for main character development. And Winnie the Pooh... oh don't look at me like that. **

* * *

Chapter 44

Gullwings Mission! Raiders of the Secret Cavern

_12 Years Before _

"_Riku, are you coming or what? I thought you wanted to meet the new girl." A four year old Sora peered around the corner to watch the five year old Riku stare at the wooden window or door, whatever it was, it didn't seem that interesting to him._

_Riku mouth parted slightly before turning to Sora, "Say Sora, I have a theory. What if this takes us to another world? You'd come with me then right?"_

"_Uh, of course I would but… what makes you think this goes to another world?" _

"_Listen closely Sora. What do you hear?" Riku asked. Sora zipped his lips shut and stepped back into the secret cave. _

_A long silence followed where both Sora and Riku listened attentively to something, anything. But in the end, Sora did not understand what Riku was trying to say._

"_I don't hear anything Riku."_

"_Exactly, nothing. That's the problem. We still oughta be hearing the seagulls and the waterfall right? But there's just a draft," Riku walked over to the wooden door or window and pressed his ear against it. Immediately his eyes shot wide open and he backed away, "Sora, press your ear against there and listen in." Riku said. _

_Sora looked at Riku as if he were crazy but instead of saying the obvious went with, "Okay, but you're kind of scaring me now." He walked slowly over to the brown structure and attached himself to it resting his head where Riku had. Again, he heard nothing. Thinking he must be wrong for Riku to have the kind of reaction that he had, Sora closed his eyes and strained to hear but nothing happened._

_Sora eventually gave up and stepped away, "I still don't hear anything. What are you getting at?"_

_Riku lips parted slightly once again before speaking, "You're kidding right, you don't hear it? It's like the sound of a heartbeat." _

_Sora looked back at the door then to Riku, "Nope." _

"_But I-" The silver haired boy rushed to the structure once again and listened in. He could definitely hear a heartbeat, a living breathing pulse. So why couldn't Sora? "Are you sure you can't hear it?" Riku checked again. _

_Sora folded his arms, "For the last time Riku, I didn't hear anything. Jeez, and people say I'm the weird one. Anyway, are you coming or are you just stalling? My dad won't wait around forever y'know."_

"_You are still weirder, you know that?" Riku told him though he wasn't exactly sure if he was willing to believe that anymore. Sora wasn't exactly the one complaining about hearing things. "You go on ahead; I'll be there in a sec." _

"_Whatever you say. Just don't keep us waiting," Sora was about to run off when he stopped and spun on his heel, "Say, promise me something Riku." _

"_Yeah?"_

"_When we leave the islands, we're doing it together." Sora said. Riku nodded and watched as the excited Sora ran off before turning back to the door or window. He was transfixed by it… and most of all perplexed. Was it trying to tell him something? _

_Present Day _

Sora placed one hand on the ledge and heaved himself up before looking around. They had only been exploring the cavern for a few minutes and already Sora was getting tired of having to climb things. Whereas the three fairies could just fly, he and Riku had to scale the various obstacles in the way to progress. Why then, did they need Sora and Riku's help if they could handle it perfectly by themselves? Of course it was because he wanted to come along for the fun of it all.

Sora spun his arms in circular motion before standing up and pointing his Keyblade at the torch on the wall lighting it up with fire magic before. He helped the battered Riku up who had been victim to a Heartless ambush on their way through the cave and gave him a quick heal to make sure he was okay.

"Are you two okay? We can rest if you want?" Yuna asked concernedly.

_Woah, they have feelings. Now that's a surprise_. Sora was quite stunned that they, or at least she, actually cared about the wellbeing of the two escorts. Of course then he quickly remembered that they were in it for the treasure and out of the three, he expected Yuna to be the one to actually care anyway.

"No, I'm not resting until we find that treasure of yours." Sora said feverishly.

"That makes two of us, even though a part of me is asking why I decided to tag along now. You know the gang must be worried sick about us." Riku reminded both himself and Sora.

"Oh yeah, hopefully they don't start putting out search pamphlets or something." Sora grinned.

Riku chortled, "Yeah, 'have you seen this spiky haired moron' for instance?"

"You don't happen to be talking about Cloud are you? I'm not sure he'll be happy with that label." Sora joked.

"Oh I'm sure he won't mind. You know how many times he has ignored me. 'Hi', I say and then he just shoves past and walks off as if he hasn't even seen me. Spiky haired jerk is more like it." Rikku yapped.

"To be fair to him, if I were in his position I'd be doing the same thing." Paine said causing everyone, except the stroppy Rikku that is, to laugh, even Paine surprisingly had let out a chuckle at her own joke. It had been the first time that in particular Sora felt as if the Gullwings were not just greedy treasure hunters but had a lot of character to them. Maybe that was why this odd trio were easily able to become the best of friends, they compensated for their different natures just like he had thought previously.

Riku however, was much quicker to ask on the topic of their friendship as they walked deeper into the cave.

"We're just regular fairies which share a passion for treasure hunting," Yuna clarified once Riku had asked them about how they knew each other, "Also something else. I guess you could call it a dream of ours."

"Yuna!" Paine warned but Sora dismissed this.

"Well now you've got to tell us. We won't laugh, we promise." He said with Riku nodding and giving a smile. Paine still seemed quite reluctant but looking at the smiles of Sora and Riku made her relax a bit. Perhaps she sensed some genuine affection and concern from the two or perhaps it may have been something deeper, possibly even both.

Yuna cleared her throat and exclaimed loud and proud, "Are dream as Gullwings is to become human!"

Sora and Riku looked at each other before turning back and giving a synchronised, "WHAT!?" as a reaction.

"Does that really seem so hard to believe?" Rikku asked.

"Well kinda," Sora began, "I mean I imagine being a pixie- err, fairy even, would have some benefits to it. I mean you can fly around without having to follow a set path for one and you can fit in tight and small spaces."

Yuna shrugged, "Well sure when you put it that way it sounds good but we have our own reasons for wanting to be humans. Flying around and teleporting whenever we want is good and all but… we just want to be like you guys."

"Well, humans aren't exactly free of problems either but I can understand if you want something more. I've understood that feeling all too well." Riku told them as they found their path blocked by a couple of large boulders.

"Do tell please." Rikku said with interest. It appeared as though she did not mind the silver haired boy as much as she had previously.

"I wanted to see other worlds rather than being chained to my home. I considered it a prison which I wanted to escape from. Then I got my wish but it didn't turn out exactly as I planned. That was when I realised that everything that I had at home was all I really needed. Of course if I had never seen the outside worlds I never would've met my other friends like the king and-"

"Boooring."

"Then why did you ask in the first place?" Riku barked frustratingly.

_Oh oh, this looks as if it's gonna get hairy quick. Time to step in, _Sora decided quickly moving in between the two.

"Riku. The giant boulders?" Sora gestured to the boulders, "How are we going to move them?"

Riku blinked as if just noticing the boulder for the first time. Walking over to it, he placed his hand over the large surface and then took his hand away to see some sort of black powder on his fingers.

"I think some weathering should do the trick." He finally said looking over to Sora.

"Sorry? Weathering?" Sora stared on owlishly.

_Leave it to Sora to have not paid attention in class, _Riku thought before explaining, "A constant mixture of heating and cooling the rock will cause it to expand and eventually break apart."

"Yeah, but how are we going to do tha-" Sora paused before realising, "Oh!"

"'Oh' he says," Riku ran his fingers through his hair before pulling them out and summoning Way to the Dawn, "Just help me do this."

Sora pointed the Kingdom Key at the rock and heated it up with several fire projectiles while Riku cooled it down with blizzard. They repeated this process several times until the cracks in the boulders started to become apparent. It soon came to the point where they would give way easily with a regular slash from both Keyblades.

_Well, Riku once again manages to surprise me, _Sora thought quite impressed and amused_, you never would guess that he was paying attention in class from the way he stared distantly at the windows. At least, that was before the whole world plunged into darkness thing anyway. _

Kairi had always been the one to set the boys straight so they could catch up with their homework but most of the times Sora procrastinated and ended up not doing it, earning several detentions in the process. Riku had at first done his homework, but as the time drew on, he started to get less involved the works of Math, Science and English. Sora had remembered the young Riku telling him that there was no point anymore when they were so close to getting off the islands.

He had considered before if had ever wanted to truly leave the islands. Sure, he would have loved to see the outside worlds and Kairi's home but he had never really complained of living in a confined space nor had he felt restricted in any way. He supposed the main reason he had wanted to go was because of Riku, who seemed to be committed to leaving the islands by any means, and if he went Kairi would then be sure to go along with him as she wanted to see her own world.

Therefore, Sora had felt as if the only way to maintain the friendship they currently had was to go along with Riku's plan and leave the islands along with them. He felt he had no choice in the matter because Riku wouldn't so easily relent and Kairi wasn't going to try and convince him to do so. After all, how could he leave a girl that he had a crush on alone with his competitive best friend? That silver haired boy and short-haired girl were the only one of his schoolmates he felt understood him and could connect with him. The fear of feeling lonely was a strong one that sat deeply within Sora's heart and he wasn't willing to let it win.

"The power of teamwork, good work guys!" Yuna praised.

"And what exactly were you three doing then?" Sora asked them.

"Acting as your cheerleaders of course. You didn't expect us little souls to move that giant rock did you? We could have… if we were human." Rikku responded with a cloying smile. Sora flashed the fairy a similar smile before turning around and continuing down the opened pathway. The rest of the group followed quickly after with Riku taking front position alongside Sora.

* * *

Luna had found herself in a curious demeanor as she examined Merlin's room. She was alone, having trained with Kairi for a while. On their way back they passed an anxious Yeul who claimed to be looking around for Kupopo and Jiminy. Of course, her being alone in her search was not an option and Kairi opted to help her in her search. Luna suspected she also wanted to coax more information out of Yeul about her origins and the seer thing but Kairi had been rather secretive about her intentions. Luna had instead settled for waiting at Merlin's house just in case either of them or Sora and Riku popped up there.

Luna grabbed a book from the bookcase and sat down on the bed. She stared at the front cover for a while seeming to find humour in the words: _Charmed: A Wizard's Guide to True Love_. Thinking that it may have some sort of love spell, not that she had heard of any sort from Sora, she opened the book and dived into chapter one finding the content slightly different from what she had imagined.

The premise of the story from what she could deduce from the first chapter and the blurb was that it was about a girl who lived in segregated world where normal humans and wizards as they were collectively known as disliked each other, the humans doing so because the wizards were special and different whilst the wizards disliked the humans because of the atrocities committed by the humans in regards to witch hunting and burning at the stake, even if some humans were falsely accused of being wizards. The world had been in a season of fear and one day the girl (though Luna had not gotten to this part) was to meet a teenage wizard and they would fall in love though they would have to keep it a secret from their families. Luna assumed though that they would eventually get caught. Or at least they should if the writer of the novel had any idea about adding dramatic tension.

What surprised Luna the most was that Merlin was reading this kind of novel. She remembered as much that she enjoyed reading mystery novels but she couldn't remember if she had any fascination in the romantic genre. One look at the blurb had told her that she did not as she rolled her eyes. It seemed like something a teenage girl would write obsessing over some wizard fantasy. Did she used to be like that? She hoped not because she would probably make a mental note to slap herself when she had recovered her memories. Also, it wasn't the romance side of things that were intriguing but rather the barbaric society that the girl lived in which seemed to be the main driving force for Luna to continue on with the story. She had to admit, as she reached the end of the first chapter, that it was well written so far and possibly, even the romance had the chance of being handled with care if the novel continued to play around the totalitarian setting.

Then she wandered. When she regained her old memories back, would she still be her. The feelings she were experiencing now as turned the page may be that of a new person entirely. Would her old self be interested in the same books, or have the same thoughts?

_No, that's stupid. Of course I will, _she told herself closing the book and setting it down on the bed, _I'll still be me. Of course I will. The dreams I've been having… they're hints, at least I think they are. And from how I've felt in these dreams I know that I'm going to be the same Luna. And I'll find that person in my dream, Astra, and maybe that'll help- _

Luna stopped as her thoughtful eyes turned to the desk where a book had been placed. She had seen Sora looking at the book before and she had never really taken the time to think about why that book was the only one out of all the books to receive its own special place not on the bookshelf. She stood up and walked over to the book then picked it up.

Her eyes widened in shock, "That can't be. Sora?" Sora was indeed on the cover of the book along with a yellow bear like creature, "Huh, didn't know he wrote his own book. Or someone else wrote about him? Creepy either way. Winnie the Pooh huh? Well it doesn't hurt to take a long." She bit her lip thoughtfully as if worried that something were about to happen to her. She then dismissed it as nerves and made for the clasp binding the book together.

She wasn't entirely sure what had happened next. One second she had opened the book and the next she was falling. Luna screamed as much as she could as she fell through the fluffy clouds and down to earth. She screamed because she did not know what else to do. She was going to die after all. Sora and the others would be wondering where she was and probably never find her body. She was still young and had a lot left to do but here she was, falling to her imminent doom. She closed her eyes and waited for nothingness to overtake her.

And then her eyes opened. She wasn't falling anymore, her body was lying in something soft and there was a blinding amount of green surrounding her. She sat upright and looked around.

"I survived. I can't believe it. Woohoo!" She jumped up and pumped her fist into the air whilst sporting a massive grin on her face, "I'm not sure how I survived nor am I sure this should be possible right now but here I am. At least I'm still alive, that's good enough for now," She scoped the green field that she was in and took in her surroundings before retracting her statement, "Actually that's not good enough, where am I?"

She called out Sora's name, then Kairi and Yeul's but she heard no response. She hadn't expected it either. If she did no something, it was that she wasn't in Radiant Garden anymore, or at least not in any part she had ever been to.

She walked over to the log in the middle of the green field and sat down on it planning her next move. The only ones who knew she had returned were Kairi and Yeul and possibly Sora, Riku, Jiminy and Kupopo depending on whether the two girls had come into contact with the four. She had to find a way out, and the only way to do that was to leave the field but she didn't want to do that either for fear of getting lost.

_What would Sora do? Well, he'd probably risk it. I guess I'll take my chances, _Luna eventually decided getting up, _and this place doesn't really seem all that bad anyway. It's rather calm and beautiful actually. _

"Well let's see what's up ahead then." Luna picked a random direction and took off in it, hoping to find an exit or at least someone who would set her on the right track.

* * *

Sora and Riku continued their exploration of the cavern alongside the three fairies, who they found they were getting along surprisingly well with much to their previous beliefs. It had probably been their dream of becoming human which had allowed the group to work together. Paine and Rikku seemed to think it was a big mistake telling the two about their goal but Yuna didn't seem to mind as much. She had energetically engaged in conversation with Sora for a while before encountering more Heartless in their path.

After defeating the Heartless, Sora sighed and turned to face the four behind him.

"It feels like we've been walking through this place for hours!" He complained, "And we still don't know where we are."

"Well, we've been doing fine so far. Just keep following the tracks and they're sure to lead us to an exit." Riku said.

Sora breathed in a sigh of discontent but nodded soon afterwards. Riku, while not expressing the annoyance Sora did, was far from satisfied with their progress himself. He wondered how far they were from the entrance and also of where they were. If this were a mineshaft, then it had been abandoned long ago, though for what reason?

It brought him back to the earlier days of his childhood, where he and Sora had taken to try and find any adventure they could. They had both wanted something more and the only things that the island provided them with apart from Sora's mythical monsters were chores.

_Flashback _

_Riku searched around stoically for the cat he and Sora had promised a woman to find. They had become so desperate for adventure that they had resulted to looking for a cat. Needless to say, Riku was not happy about this at all but Sora seemed all the more enthusiastic about it. He had absolutely no idea why either. When Sora had talked about cheering Riku up by going around the town to search for an adventure, this wasn't exactly what he had in mind._

"_Come out Mr. Kitty, where are you?" Sora called out loud._

"_Sora, it won't come out just because you're calling for it," Riku told him, "we have to search every nook and cranny. That's the only way we'll find him." The young silver haired boy soon took it upon himself to peer through the bushes in hopes that the cat was nearby, the last thing he needed was for it to have somehow magically swam away to the other islands or something strange like that._

_Their search continued for a while with the two boys asking the local residents if they had seen him and while some claimed to have seen him earlier on in the day, it didn't really help overall. Riku had had just about enough._

_Riku stopped and looked back at the path they had just come from, "It's getting dark. Let's go home, maybe he'll just go back to her on his own." _

"_What? We can't abandon it! What if it can't find its way back?" Sora asked._

"_Well I don't exactly think it's a good idea to look for him at night. We'll have less chance of finding him. We can just continue to look for him tomorrow if he still isn't back." _

"_No, we need to find him now before he gets himself in trouble," The defiant Sora insisted, "you can go home if you want but I'll be here looking." _

_Riku was getting impatient, "Sora, you can't be telling me that this is what you had in mind when you said you wanted an adventure?"_

"_No… not exactly…" Sora hesitated, "but that's not important right now. We have to find Mr. Kitty. Is something wrong Riku? You seem… different somehow." _

"_How so?" Riku questioned, he didn't feel any different at all._

"_Well, ever since Kairi arrived, you always seem to stay longer on the islands than the rest of us. What are you up to?" _

_Riku was about to answer with a lie when a weak meow was heard from somewhere behind them. They turned their heads almost immediately to see a brown cat walking in the most curious manner towards them, actually on closer inspection it seemed to be limping._

"_Mr. Kitty looks like he's injured. Let's take him to the vet, quickly Sora." Riku scooped the cat into his arms and rushed down the hill along with Sora to the lit up shops below them._

_End Flashback_

Thinking back, Riku had been astonished at what perfect timing it had been. Sora had never really brought up Riku's strange behaviour afterwards. They had gotten the cat safely to the vet and were both praised by their parents and the woman who had lost her cat. This had been before he had lost his mother.

The truth was that Riku had become almost infatuated by the door that haunted the secret cave on the Destiny Islands. He had pretended to not care about the cave no matter how much Sora had insisted to him that it was amazing and that Riku should come along with him and Kairi. But he couldn't _not_ care. How could he when a door with a giant heartbeat slept in his mind constantly. Here was a door or window that possibly led to another world, that possibly was the way the other boy, later revealed to be Xehanort, had used to escape the islands. And Riku was the only one who could hear it. Was he special somehow? It could not be just a coincidence that a strange teen had arrived at the islands and had shown him the Keyblade, followed by him being the only one to heat the pulse of the world's heart and then finally, the arrival of Kairi, of all places, she had landed at the islands. It could only be a sign. That was what the child Riku had been sure of, as if fate had thrown all the playing cards right at him and he had only to pick up the pieces.

So Riku would wait for his chance to see the outside world. And for a while he had taken extreme interest in the door inside the secret cave, almost obsessed, and while he did that he would also pester Kairi trying to find out almost anything he could about other worlds. He would learn to regret his actions late especially as it was his thoughts and impatience that caused the destruction of the islands. And here they were again, with the islands in ruin and Riku truly not sure what to do. He was Keyblade Master, which had to count for something, so why couldn't he protect his own home when he needed to?

"Hey, just what is this?" Sora's voice shook Riku out of his thoughts and he also looked around. They had gone far into cavern by now, and it would be here where its secrets would be discovered. There was only one type of place that could ever describe what lay before them and neither Sora nor Riku felt they could say it. Eventually it was Paine who came out and spoke what was on everyone else's mind.

"It's a graveyard."

* * *

**DUN. DUN. DUUUUN. Cliffhanger! A graveyard in a secret cave, who's sick idea was this? **


	45. A Curious Case of Hunger

**Another chapter of filler, though I personally like Winnie the Pooh so it feels great to get away from the seriousness of the plot for a while. Don't worry, we'll be back to that soon but I feel the characters need a break. Enough dilly dallying, onto the show.**

* * *

Chapter 45

A Curious Case of Hunger

Luna's quick-paced walking had soon taken her to a strange house buried deep in the woods. Strange being that the house seemed to be built into a tree. She was a little apprehensive to investigate further but something told her that whoever occupied the house could not be as frightening as she imagined them to be so she mustered up enough courage and pushed on.

Surprisingly she had not encountered any Heartless over her five minute walk so far. The place was peaceful and the only sounds she could hear were the singing of birds, the rustling of the leaves and the howling of the wind. Exploring the areas she had so far had led her to definitely conclude that she was not in Radiant Garden. The geographical landscape was completely different and the air seemed and smelled different, fresher compared to the machinery smell that currently inhibited Radiant Garden.

_Thank goodness, at least there's someone who actually lives here. Never mind where they live, _Luna stood at the door once again considering the positives and negatives of knocking on the door, _oh come on Luna. The worst thing that can happen is that there's a giant monster living inside and- wait, that didn't help!_

Luna walked around the tree and looked through the window on the side. There only seemed to be one occupant of the single room, though they were resting in their bed with the covers draped over them so she could not see who it was. She eventually told herself that she was being silly and walked back over to the door.

_Here goes nothing. _She cleared her throat and knocked about five times and then waited. It seemed the person inside had not heard the knocks because no response came. Luna rapped again five more times. Eventually she heard a loud crash come from inside and she cringed in response.

"I'm coming, oh bother," Someone said from inside. Well it didn't sound like a monster, that was for sure. The door soon opened and standing under the door way was a plump yellow teddy bear with beady black eyes and a curious smile on its features, "why hello there, may I help you with uh- something?"

Luna stared down for a moment utterly transfixed and not sure if this was a joke or not. She knew Merlin was a wizard but if he had just snuck up on her while she was reading the book and played some cruel trick on her, then that would be pretty low of him.

_I'm dreaming aren't I? Well, this is no time to be sleeping. Wakey-wakey already… _She pinched herself and hissed in pain. Well she wasn't waking up. This was very real and she wasn't sure whether she had taken one wrong step and had ended up in Wonderland again.

"Something," Luna eventually replied stupidly, "Something, something- oh um, right I was here for… well sorry for disturbing you but I have a bit of a problem right now and was wondering if you happened to know the way out?" Luna asked.

"The way out of where? Here? Well there are multiple ways like there, there, oh and over there." The bear explained pointing to the various exits including the one she came from.

"No, I mean… well actually let's just start at the beginning. Where am I exactly?" Luna asked.

"Why you're in the hundred acre wood, the home of Winnie the Pooh."

"Winnie the who? Who's that?" Luna asked looking up at the sign above his door which read "Mr. Sanders" in untidy and hastily done handwriting.

"Why yours truly of course, though my friends call me Pooh Bear." Pooh said giving a genuine smile.

"Then why does it say Mr. Sanders at the top of your door? Is that your surname?" Luna asked.

Pooh gave a knowing smile and shook his head. Luna expected him to say more but when nothing else came, it became clear to him that stuffed bear would not elaborate further so she changed the topic.

"Well, I'm Luna, nice to meet you Pooh," Luna waved before turning around, "Well it's been fun meeting you but I really need to find a way out of this place. My friends are probably looking for me right about now."

"Maybe I can help look for these friends of yours as well? You see I actually have a problem of my own, er- what's another more original word?" Pooh asked.

"Dilemma, I suppose…" Luna offered before continuing on, "So what is this dilemma of yours exactly?"

"Well you see, I've been searching for something special of my own for a while now. A talent, though I'm not exactly sure what it is. You might say I have hunger for talent right now." Pooh scratched his head in confusion.

"I really wouldn't think about that too hard if I were you," Luna giggled before sitting down on the grass. The air was refreshing and of a new experience to her, almost like the smell of turning the pages of a book. Something jogged in the back of her mind, but for the life of her she could not recall the memory no matter how hard she tried, "I mean, everyone has things they're good at and not good at. For example, I have a terrible sense of navigation," she joked resulting in her and Pooh chuckling, "but here's the secret, we work on the things we're bad at and we improve little by little."

"So what you're saying then is that I can have any talent I want?" Pooh asked seeming to glimmer with delight by the second.

"Well not exactly every talent. That's going a little bit too far but one step at a time is always the best idea," Luna told him, "Okay then, I'll help you discover your special talent Pooh, maybe I'll find a way out in the process. So, did you just start thinking about this now or…"

"Actually right now I have a much harder problem to solve." Pooh said.

"Okay, I'll help you with that too. What is it?" Luna asked.

"I really need some honey right now."

* * *

"A graveyard?" Sora repeated Paine's words in disbelief, "What exactly is going on here? Did you three know about this?"

Yuna and Rikku shook their heads ferociously, "No, we didn't we swear we only know what we were told."

"Yeah, and who told you? Maleficent?" Riku asked.

"Maleficent? We never mentioned anything about that mean old witch!" Rikku spat out the evil fairy's name in disgust.

"You can drop the act. It was pretty obvious from the beginning." Riku told them.

Sora craned his head to the side, "It was?"

Riku rolled his eyes, "I amend my statement. It was obvious to half of us from the beginning."

Yuna held her hands out to interrupt, "Look, fair enough we never told you guys about Maleficent but we weren't going to lead you guys into a trap or anything. The reason we joined up with Maleficent in the first place was because she offered a way to make us human like you. We would have been fools to not take that offer."

"You were fools to trust Maleficent in the first place… but then how can I say that?" Riku tone became softer and he looked to the ground and gave a light chuckle before looking back up.

"What exactly were you three doing with Maleficent anyway?" Sora enquired.

"Espionage. We were ordered to spy on Leon and the gang by Maleficent so she could sabotage their plans and always be one step ahead of them. We didn't exactly get much treasure from it though." Paine answered.

"Nothing really worth it actually." Yuna added hesitantly.

"Yeah I wonder why… Let's get back to the point. She told you about this place. Are you telling me she never went down here to look herself?" Riku asked looking around him. The remains of ash lay low beneath his feet and there was a stronger smell in the air than before. Riku did not want to look at the tombstones built into the ground for fear of the image forever being ingrained into his mind but he simply couldn't resist.

"She didn't mention anything if she did. We've told you all we know about the place so stop pestering us and let's find the darn treasure already." Rikku squealed.

"Is that all you care about? Word of advice, keep your mouth shut before my ears drop off." Riku said angrily before staring down at one of the tombstones.

_Uh-Oh, here we go again. And I thought we were done with this. _Sora groaned before going over to check one of the tombstones as well. The name was almost phased out but Sora could make out just enough to be able to read it.

"This one says Kyle Forrester. Can't read much more than that," He shouted to Riku, "So do you still think this is a mineshaft?"

"It may still well be. This whole cavern is big enough to do many things. It could even… act as shelter. Maybe there were people living here." Riku said causing Sora to stifle a laugh.

"Live here? In this dump? What were they doing living down here when they could've been living up there?"

"Well do you have any ideas? It makes sense when you think about it. The tracks, the random platforms… I bet you those weren't just any platforms but parts of infrastructure. And now these tombstones..."

Sora nodded while contemplating their current circumstance, _If Riku's right then I think I just might know the cause behind this. It's a guess but all we're doing is taking a look at possibilities here so I've got nothing to lose._

"What if this shelter was made to protect people from Maleficent's invasion of Radiant Garden? It seems to make sense that they wouldn't want to leave their home so they hid underground. I'm not exactly sure how they died but since the Heartless are down here I would take a guess that Maleficent probably found the secret entrance and sent them down." He finished detailing his theory to Riku and the Gullwings.

"That seems likely, and I wouldn't rule it out either but-" Riku looked down below him to see a large shadow getting even larger and flipped out of the way in time to avoid the crushing monster that fell from nowhere. It looked like a giant with its pot belly sticking out and slime oozing from its mouth. The emblem on its chest identified it as a Heartless but it seemed almost different somehow.

Sora couldn't describe it. It was definitely a Heartless and yet as he stared into its cold yellow eyes and it stared back, he felt some sense of longing behind it. The giant or troll stood up rather shakily almost as if dazed before picking up the wooden club that he had sat on. A loud roar echoed across the room with the two boys and the three fairies covering their ears at is horrendous yell.

"Don't worry. We can take it," Sora eventually said after the troll-like Heartless has stopped the horrible yell coming from its mouth, "You three stand back. We can take him."

"Nuh-uh, you think we're just gonna stand around and let you have a piece of the action? Well we're not like that, are we girls?" Rikku clenched her fists and looked to both her comrades.

"Right, we never run away from danger. Gullwings, in position!" Yuna did a sort of half flip-half glide over Rikku and Paine to land in front of them.

"Well, it's your funeral," Riku said in a playful banter before summoning Way to the Dawn, "That said we're probably all faster than that thing. I think we'll be able to take it."

"One step ahead of you I'm afraid." Sora said rushing quickly to the Troll and delivering several quick strikes with his Keyblade before moving out of the way to avoid being smashed by the heavy club that had been swung down in a violent manner. The troll turned and started swinging its club around though Sora managed to dodge easily with his quick speed and agility. Riku soon ran in and along with Sora started attacking all over the Troll's body, dodging and kicking off walls to get more momentum when appropriate.

The Gullwings flew in and spun around the troll's head trying to confuse it and have it focus its attention on the fairies. The troll tried to slap them out of the way with its unarmed hand but the Gullwings flew around its arm and all three aimed a well-synchronised kick at its face.

"You three aren't that bad you know." Sora complimented as the Heartless groaned expressing some weird form of human-like agony, once again another unusual trait for a Heartless.

_This is just like that other Heartless back in Mulan's world. What exactly is going on here?_ Sora thought jumping out of the way as the troll dropped its club and pounded its fists into the ground. Exchanging looks with Riku, the two ran towards the troll, jumped up and struck down hard on its head sending it crashing down into the ground. Eventually the Heartless' body disappeared leaving its heart to float up into the sky.

"We did it!" Yuna and Rikku yelled together in joy high fiving each other. Paine had a confident smile on her face which could express how she felt without needing to talk much. That was really all you could ever get out of her anyway so they were glad to see at least some means of happiness no matter what the method.

"Graveyards and Heartless. Not exactly my idea of paradise. Maybe we should get going before more Heartless appear." Riku gritted his teeth as he looked over at the gravestones around him.

"I agree, this place is pretty creepy. Can we please go already?" Rikku complained worriedly.

While the Gullwings and Riku started walking, enthusiastic in leaving the gloomy area, Sora could not help but keep staring at the headstones with names of people imprinted on them. He had some strange feeling at the pit of his stomach that maybe there was more to this area than what he had been thinking. He had theorized that it was built as shelter to protect people from the Heartless but maybe it went deeper than that.

_Maybe I'm just thinking about it too much. I'm more worried about how they died I guess. Also what was with that Heartless? This is all getting too strange for comfort. _Sora felt a sudden chill crawl down his spine and spun around rapidly, looking around frantically. He had felt some weird presence nearby, as if someone had been watching him. He ended up spotting no one and relaxed his muscles. Was he becoming paranoid? _Yeah… I am so getting out of here. _

As Sora ran off to catch up with the group, Abraxas, still dressed in the black coat with the hood over his head, peered out of the corner he was hiding and walked towards the gravestones with a sullen expression on his face. Kneeling before one of the markers, he touched the stone almost unconsciously seeming quite engrossed in the words which were carved into the stone.

* * *

Luna and Pooh had been walking for while in search of honey as Pooh had claimed he had _really_ needed it. Luna wasn't sure why though seeing the vast collection of jars stacked on Pooh's shelves inside his home. They soon stumbled across a rather big oak tree with bee hives hanging off its branches.

"Wait, you're actually going to climb this thing?" Luna asked looking upwards into the pigment green.

"Why of course, there is honey in it for me after all," Pooh chuckled before asking, "How about you climb with me? I hear the view's nice this time of day."

"I suppose it can't hurt. Well, it can if I fall but…" Luna trailed off and decided to drop the subject. The two started their climb upwards into the tree with Pooh stopping every now and then to gather honey. Luna swung one leg over the branch and, hoping to gain a better view of her bearings, looked out in the distance.

There was nothing but green and brown from what she could see and while admired the comforts of nature, it was not necessarily a place she wanted to be in right now.

"So, where exactly does this field take us?" She shouted to Pooh who was just one level above her.

"Well over there is my friend Rabbit's house and further up is Owl's. Also Roo and Kanga somewhere uh- my bear senses aren't working." Pooh said while stuffing his mouth full with honey.

"Yeah, I wonder why," Luna said sarcastically before pointing at one of the more anomalous points in the area, what seemed like a dark forest completely stripped of its leaves and seeming more haunting by the second, "and where does that go?"

"Oh, we don't go there. There are many- yum, there are many- hmm, dangerous animals in there." Luna could barely hear the bear's words over the sound of his constant munching.

"To be more precise it's home to rather scary beasts such as Heffalumps and Woozles." An owl appeared out of nowhere, well more like it swooped down but to Luna it may as well have just been out of nowhere because she lost her balance and fell of the branch hitting the ground hard.

"You could've at least said hello first." Luna grunted sitting up and looking at her dishevelled state. Palom and Porom were not going to be happy if the end result of this was their dress getting ruined.

"Oh sorry, hello there Owl. It's nice to see you." Pooh pulled his out of a hole in the tree to greet the wise bird.

"Not you Pooh," Luna cringed before looking up at Owl, "So what were you saying before you swooped down to scare me again?"

"Just that those woods are inhabited to the most dangerous creatures. I wouldn't advise you go in there." Owl said.

"Like Heartless? Is that what you mean by Heffalumps and Woozles?" Luna asked.

"Heartless? No no no that's not what they're called unless that's what you call them where you're from." Owl replied ominously.

"So then what are they like?" Luna asked, she had never heard anything as ridiculous as a Heffalump or a Woozle before, but then again there was always a first for everything. If such creatures did exist, then she was sure they would not be as threatening as the Heartless.

"What are they like? Quite ferocious and hairy creatures with snot pouring from their noses and also they have an awful pack mentality," Owl started, "Their snarling breath is a warning to anyone who dares trespass their territory. They'll gobble you up without even thinking if they spot you."

"Well how do you know what they look like if you've never seen them before?" Luna questioned.

"Um- yes, well… that-"

Before Owl could answer, something small came from afar screaming Pooh's name. Luna squinted and shielded her eyes with her hands from the sun's gaze to get a better look at what seemed to be a small pig.

"Pooh Bear! Come quick!" He said ignoring Luna and Owl as he ran past them and looked straight up into the tree.

"Hello there Piglet. I'll be right down. Have you met our new friend yet?" Pooh said trying to climb down but finding it rather hard to do so due to his stuffed tummy. Piglet turned around and stared at Luna for a while, and she stared back.

Luna figured she should initiate the conversation first since it was obvious Piglet wouldn't, "Hi!"

"Aaahhhh!" Piglet screamed running off and hiding behind the tree.

"Well I didn't expect that reaction," Luna grumbled before following Piglet slowly. Fearing that he would run away again, Luna knelt down and smiled sweetly at him, "Don't worry, I won't hurt you little guy. My name's Luna and I'm a friend of Pooh. I take it you would be Piglet then? I've heard a lot about you from him."

Piglet seemed less scared and more interested by the second, "Really? Like what?"

"That you're a good, brave and selfless friend." Luna said.

This evoked nervous laughter and blushing from Piglet who responded sincerely, "Oh, I'm not brave at all."

"Oh I'm sure you are. Even if you don't think so, you'd probably do enough to look after Pooh and your other friends. That's all you really need to be brave." She said before standing back up. Piglet seemed to take her words to heart judging by the feeling of tension in the air receding as well as Piglet's straight aligned mouth being now that of a beam. Luna for whatever reason felt quite triumphant, probably because she was glad to have him on her side.

Pooh's feet touched the ground and he slumped, plucking the last ounces of honey back into his mouth where they had previously dribbled out.

"Piglet, you don't happen to no an exit to this place do you? I need to get back to my friends." Luna enquired though she doubted Piglet would be able to provide her with anything new if Pooh hadn't.

"I'm sorry, I don't really go that far usually." Piglet said disappointedly.

"That's okay. What about you Owl?"

Owl cleared his throat before giving an overdramatic, "No!"

"Thanks for the build-up." She rolled her eyes grumpily and pouting.

"Why thank you, actually my great Uncle Owlbert had once told me that I had an uncanny knack for drama. And so as a little boy I even tried out in a play of my own. I wrote it, acted it out and even directed it. Ah, now those were-"

"Owl, not helping." Pooh interjected. He then looked curiously at Luna, "Say Luna, what is your special talent? Maybe that will help."

Luna thought carefully about this, ironically she had told Pooh earlier on not to think as much about his talents, but when she looked at herself she really had no idea what hers were. Sure she had a Keyblade, but she really couldn't classify it as a talent, especially when she had only been wielding one for a month or so, and she barely felt as if she had fully understood the basics.

"You know what? I'm not really sure, I've never really thought about it. I've been too busy trying to find my home world that I would imagine it's not exactly one of the things that crosses your mind while you're travelling," After seeing Pooh's slightly downward reaction to this, she quickly added, "Of course that doesn't mean you should stop trying to look for one. I think it's pretty cool that you're looking for something that makes you unique Pooh. Maybe some of your friends might have a few ideas. Have any particular idea who?"

"Well…" Pooh rested his chin on his hand as he began to go through a list of names in his head. In the end, only two fit that kind of description, "There are those two."

Piglet looked up alarmed, "Wait a minute, you can't possibly be talking about…"

But what choice did he really have? Those two in particular had uniqueness for discovering talent, especially when one of them had helped out the other to find his own.

* * *

Riku popped his head out slightly to take a look outside. After journeying through the cavern they had finally reached the exit and a look of relief had washed over all of their faces. Placing the manhole cover aside, Riku heaved himself up and out into the daylight. It felt good to smell natural air again after travelling in a cavern inhabited by an earthy kind of scent. The three fairies quickly followed via flight and Sora last.

Sora dragged the map out of his pocket and opened it up.

"Hey, carefully okay? You don't want to rip it do you?" An indignant Rikku criticised him for his handling of the map.

"Sorry," He quickly apologised as he searched for the X. Placing his hand on it, he drew an imaginary circle with his finger to highlight the circumference that they were most likely in, "so we should be pretty close if we're near Maleficent's old hideout." And indeed they were, standing almost right next to Villain's Vale.

Yuna glided in to take a look at the map as well, "So we keep heading north from here and we'll have found the spot where the treasure is buried. Excellent!"

"Seems like a plan." Sora folded up the map and placed it back in his pocket again before following the others. Mountains surrounded them on either side leaving for only one path to follow so getting to the treasure would be the easy part. Digging it up would be another thing entirely. While the valley path that they were in was restricted, it was still quite an open area and the X on the map was too vague to help with finding the exact location.

They decided to split up in order to cover a wider radius. As Sora continued to look around in his area, Riku had decided to visit and talk to him about something, he had been holding it back for a while but he knew that he shouldn't have to keep secrets from his friends.

"Sure, what is it Riku?" Sora asked keeping his eyes trained on the ground.

Riku did the same while talking, "Sora, I've wanted to tell you this for quite some time now but I wasn't able to do it."

"Again Riku, you're cool and all but you're not my type-"

Riku cut him, "Please. Just stop. If there's any time I need you to be serious it's right now," Sora stood motionless for a second before looking up at Riku, "Sora, I've always been jealous of you and I know I've said that before but that not just it. You have a family that cares about you and I tried to take you away from them. I've always thought I could handle things by myself and I admit that I liked Kairi at one point… or I thought I did, maybe I never did. Maybe she was just part of the competition between you and me and for that I'm sorry."

"It's no problem Riku," Sora said quickly, "I wanted to leave the islands of my own accord and I did that fully knowing that I would be leaving my parents behind."

"But it's not just that. I've always thought that I could handle things on my own. Ever since I looked at that door in the secret place back on the islands I've always felt I was special in some way. I was obsessed, I admit it."

Sora's eyes looked past Riku to wear Paine was before actually meeting the silver haired teen's face, "So that where you were going when me and Kairi left the islands. You still went there… all this time, even though you said it was 'baby stuff' if I recall correctly?"

Riku gave a quiet snort, "Yeah… well. But anyway the point is that fighting back there, along with you. It made me realise how important friends are and how foolish I was for thinking I could take things on by myself. The fact is I never would have had the confidence to leave the islands if you and Kairi hadn't been behind me."

Sora drove his right knuckle into Riku's shoulder lightly, "Man, you really lay it on thick for yourself you know that? I appreciate you telling me and all but I'm really no better. If it helps I've always thought I could do things without you there as well. I've always depended on you when we were young. We both tried to save Kairi in our own way right? In the end though, we ended up doing it together. Good lesson for teamwork don't you think?"

"If by teamwork you mean two friends not being jealous of each other most of the time then yeah, pretty much." Riku said soon accompanying it with a laugh. Sora joined in with laughter of his own.

"If you two are done, you would have heard that we have found the treasure!" Yuna yelled from afar. Sora and Riku grinned in a childish manner and ran over towards where the Gullwings were grouped. There was a chest, or at least something which resembled the characteristics of a box to hold contents dug deeply underground with only the tip sticking out.

Both Sora and Riku worked hard to dig into the soil to recover the chest. It seemed deeply embedded into the ground and without the help of Magnet, Sora and Riku would probably have been at it all day.

"Put your back into it!" Rikku exclaimed anxiously.

"Nag nag nag, that's all you do." Sora said, sadly enough Rikku's 'encouragement' was more tiring than the actual digging of the treasure. From afar, they could just barely see some of the machines working on construction in the distance.

_Man if only had one of those sweet things. _Sora thought wiping the sweat from his brow. Of course it also had to be a hot day when they were doing this.

After what seemed like a long time, Riku finally pulled the chest out of the ground by its handle whilst Sora slumped to the ground and hung his head behind him. Rikku followed by Yuna floated over to the treasure eagerly rubbing their hands together, "What are you waiting for? Open it!"

Riku tapped his Keyblade against the chest twice and after hearing a click opened up the chest. Inside was a photograph which included three people in it, a man, woman and most probably their baby daughter seeming to indicate that it was a family photo. They all seemed to have smiles on their faces, with the cutest belonging to that of the baby girl who seemed to revel in stretching her father's cheek.

"Uh, what is this supposed to be?" Rikku questioned annoyed.

"I knew it. A waste of time." Paine rubbed her forehead and showed little emotion or caring.

"And I thought we were on track this time. How disappointing…" Yuna chided.

However Sora and Riku had much different feelings about this. It would naturally make sense that this was a treasure to the person who had left this here. The back of the photo had said as much and especially Sora's face lit up when he read what was on the back:

_To the person who is reading this, _

_You have seen my most cherished and beloved family. A value worth more than any trinket or munny in the world. This shall be the hardest decision I have ever made and it pains me to do this but I must leave my wife and child for a long journey. If I do not return, please return this photograph to my wife, Colette and my dear daughter, Stephanie. And please protect them._

_From a loving father. P.S. Small handwriting is not my forte is seems. _

* * *

**So in the next chapter we'll be seeing more from the minor characters of Radiant Garden, as well as more Luna in Winnie the Pooh land. **

**But what we all really want to talk about it the announcement of KH3... after how many years of waiting has finally been announced. Still will take a while to get here but when I saw that trailer I screamed like a mad man. And FFXV looks great too, can't wait until these come out. **


	46. A Lengthy Tail

Chapter 46

A Lengthy Tail

Pooh's reflection stared back at him and so did Luna's as the two spent time admiring the river, well it was more of taking a break for Luna but she didn't mind watching the ripples created by the water as she dropped stones in one by one.

In between each stone she watched as Pooh pulled different faces and expressions evoking laughter from the cheerful girl. It was a moment of silence and yet Luna had felt that she had understood the bear much more in these minutes of silence and laughter than ever before. He seemed to really want to discover his special talent, something Luna had never really thought about. Was searching for your special talent really that important especially when it probably came naturally? That is what Luna had quizzed herself with as she sat by the river and for the life of her she could not come up with a decent answer. Pooh had suggested two of his friends in an effort to help him with his talent but so far they were unable to locate them.

If there was any other way to help Pooh, Luna was sure that the ideas she had currently conjured up in her head were too vague and had little chance of working. Still, it was better than nothing and trying certainly wouldn't hurt.

"Do you usually do this? Sitting by the river and looking at your reflection?" Luna decided to ask.

"I sit down in silence almost anywhere when I need to think about something. A friend of mine once told me that he'll always be with me right here," Pooh pointed to his heart, "Now that I'm talking about him, I do kind of miss him but I know that he'll return soon one day."

"Sounds like a good friend. I hope I get to meet him one day," said a smiling Luna. Jumping up from the ground, Luna eagerly held her hand out to Pooh. Little did the thought cross her mind of her returning back to Radiant Garden. Instead she was now fully focused on helping Pooh, "Are you ready? Let's go find your special talent!"

_Okay, I admit that sounded a bit corny but it seemed to get the point across. _Luna couldn't help but grin broadly as Pooh's hand found its way into Luna's. Together the two set off once again down the green meadow.

From above the view would look magnificent. Luna pondered what it was like to be a bird for a second flying high above the fields as the green grass lapped against one another like ocean waves and the two small ants walking through them. It was like being on the Gummi Ship all over again, with her staring down at the world below, wondering if the denizens of their tiny world ever thought as she did about vast and infinite universe beyond their own. Probably not, the secrecy of the worlds had made sure of that and in some ways it made her sad knowing that she had all this knowledge about other worlds that she wanted to share and yet she couldn't, even worse, that knowledge wasn't very much having only visited six worlds so far, seventh when counting this one.

"So do you have anything in mind for a special talent Pooh?"

"Oh, I don't know. I wish I could have them all. Is it really this hard to choose?" Pooh laughed.

"Well more is not necessarily better Pooh. The way I see it, if you have everything you'll end up with nothing. Being Mr. Perfect in every way seems pretty boring to me, we all have our flaws and how we combat those in our day to day life is probably the most exciting part. That's what I believe anyway." Luna finished with a smile after seeming to find her answer satisfactory.

"I wouldn't mind meeting Mr. Perfect. Does he share a love for honey?" Pooh asked curiously.

"Most definitely, but he might not exactly have the all the time in the world to spend it with you." Luna answered humbly.

"Well I'm sure I can make time on my schedule if he wants me to." Pooh's joke saw a fit of laughter from Luna who was glad to be out in the sun and making new friends.

The two soon came across a certain someone's house, not really a house as it was made out of a bunch of sticks but it was clear that the occupant was satisfied about his living conditions, then again, this particular being looked as if he would accept almost anything.

"You must be Eeyore? Nice to meet you, I'm Luna." Eeyore changed his attitude very upon meeting Luna and Pooh. Luna believed he seemed interested in meeting her, he truly did, but his expression remained its tired and melancholy state that Pooh and his other friends usually knew him for.

"It's nice to meet you Luna. Hello Pooh, how are you doing today?"

"Well right now, Luna is helping me search for my special talent. Do you happen to know anything that might help?" Pooh asked.

"Not exactly sure I'm the one you should be asking here. I'm not really special in anyway, my tail is a testament to that, or lack of one." Eeyore turned around showing them his tailless bottom, "I seem to have misplaced it somewhere and I can't exactly find it."

"Huh, that's weird. Do you remember the last time you had it?" Luna asked looking around the surrounding area for any sign of what would look like a tail.

"Nope. Hopefully it isn't somewhere too far away." Eeyore returned back to his resting position under his 'house'.

"This is your home? Doesn't it get a little chilly from time to time?" Luna seemed rather wary of the strength of this house as well. A strong enough wind could very easily knock these sticks out of position.

"It's not much, but it works. I get by with just the essentials." Eeyore said.

"Well right now, you really need a tail. You can't just sit by and mope all day long now can you? Come on, let's go find your tail together," Luna offered. She had a feeling that she was taking on more than she could chew at this point and that if one more person complained of a problem, she would probably pass out, "In the meantime, how about we find a replacement tail if that will help."

* * *

It had never occurred to Leon when he had met up with his childhood friend Rinoa that it would stir up such controversy about the two. Of course it was true that he had been busy making plans for his world's reconstruction so he had hardly cared about rumours of any sort. Regardless, now that Xanatos Industries had taken half of the burden off of him, he had started to notice it more. For this very reason, he had decided to confront Rinoa about it while they had been out searching for Sora and Riku.

Leon leaned against the pipe and watched from behind as Rinoa scoped the view from the top of the castle once belonging to Ansem the Wise. He was scared if he were brutally honest, of what might happen if he approached her on the subject, and a ferocious and antagonistic Rinoa was not exactly what he needed when it came to his once best friend. Still, he was angry.

"Where were you all this time?" Leon said suddenly causing Rinoa to turn back and look at him.

"Sorry? I thought I had already told you. Xanatos offered to take me here so I could meet up with you guys." Rinoa replied.

"That's not what I mean. I've been searching for you this whole time. When I ended up in Traverse Town, I couldn't think properly, my world was destroyed and my friend potentially dead." Leon told her.

"You were always mature for your age Squall." Rinoa reached him and stood on tip toes while examining him.

"Don't call me that. That name means nothing to me now. I sullied it in the dirt when I was unable to protect my home… and you." He added shortly after expressing some pain in his voice. He did everything he could to shy away from the girl's stare.

"Funnily enough, now you're behaving like a child. There's nothing wrong with your name Squall. You don't see Cloud changing his name because he's done bad things in the past." Rinoa said.

"Well it means something to me. In my own belief, a name is something you commit yourself to. People remember you by it and they'll say your name either in praise or disgust. I couldn't even stand to hear my name let alone say it when I was asked because I failed the promise I made that came with that name. That's why I changed it." Leon eventually closed his eyes and remembered the chaos around him as his world was destroyed and taken by the Heartless.

He had been a little boy at the time being only nine, true, but even then that could have made all the difference. He had already lost his parents at a young age, effectively making him an orphan and had even been treated as special because of it. He hadn't wanted any of it, and the idea of everyone pitying him was something that he did not want, so he distanced himself from others as much as possible. He learned to like isolation and becoming a recluse and it was only until he met Rinoa a year before the invasion that he had come out of his shell and started to enjoy life a bit more. She had acted as a sister to him as well as a friend though he had been a little cold to her at first.

Then he watched helpless as his world was taken from him, his friendship with Rinoa had been severed as he and everyone else that had formed the restoration committee today had ended up in Traverse Town while Rinoa had mysteriously disappeared, almost as if fate had play a cruel joke on him.

"I don't believe that Squall, a name is just a name, that's all it is. What really matters if the person behind the name and I'm sorry to say that if you think changing your name will change who you are, then you have no idea what the world is really like." Rinoa said ending in a whisper. Her beautiful smile had gone from her features now to be replaced by a gloomy and sorrowful look.

"And I believe I can change. I did it once, when I met you… and I can do it again." Leon said confidently.  
"Now you're just being ignorant. If you keep running you'll only be fooling yourself, those memories will always come back to haunt you if you don't face them. What happened to the Squall that I knew who was willing to accept his defeats and get back up from them?"

"Well, I guess you don't know me as well as you think after all then." Leon told her coldly. Brushing past her, the moody Leon walked down the ramp of the castle postern towards Ansem's Study. Rinoa dismayed from their recent conversation took one last look at the houses below before heading into the castle as well.

* * *

"This is ridiculous kupo. I think we've been lost for quite a while. And you say you have an excellent sense of direction."  
Jiminy stuttered after hearing Kupopo's remark, "We-well I-I um, gee whiz this is slightly embarrassing. Look I'm sure that if we keep heading uh- this way! Yes, this way seems right. We might be able to get back."

"Now you're just making things up aren't you? Wait, I take that back kupo. You were always making things up!" Kupopo showed his resentment with an angry shaking fist. The two had ventured far and wide across the suburban areas of the world all because Kupopo had requested it. Jiminy, who claimed to have an acute sense of direction, was dragged along for the ride though seeing as how he had never been to this area of Radiant Garden, he had absolutely no idea where he was going.

"Whaddya say to turning back and looking for another route." The suggestion by Jiminy seemed more of an insistence, with a hint of fear on the side. Kupopo seemed to catch upon this quickly and decided to bait the cricket.

"Oh, is someone scared kupo? Is the big bad Heartless going to attack you? Don't worry, I'll protect you." The moogle mocked in a sickly sweet voice.

"O-of course I'm not scared. And besides, if you haven't noticed we're stuck in the middle of Radiant Garden and we have no idea where we're going so even if I were scared it would be very justified!" Jiminy's voice rose and became quicker as he spoke until he started to pant heavily after finishing his sentence.

Jiminy believed that if the two had managed to make it this far, then surely they could make it back. Around them hundreds of people seemed to be going about their daily business, whether it be shopping, going to and from work or chatting with friends. It had been the first time Jiminy had ever seen the world in such restless activity, almost as if there were no such threat of the Heartless. This area in particular seemed dense enough that you would think that the Heartless would attack regularly, and while they did, there seemed to be guards positioned in a concentrated manner around this area which had helped to fend off the fiends.

Apart from humans, machines also packed the area working furiously at repairing and expanding the town, although there were not as many machines in this area as opposed to those from the marketplace extending all the way to the construction site near the castle.

Jiminy had to constantly move out of the way for fear of being trampled on, while the winged Kupopo seemed to find amusement in the little cricket's struggles.

"So Jiminy, do you have anyone special in your life?"

The sudden interest in his life brought on a wrinkled smile from Jiminy. Just what was this moogle playing at anyway? He had shown little to no interest whatsoever in asking Jiminy anything about himself and now suddenly it was as if Kupopo's behaviour had pulled a 180. What had spurred the moogle to ask such a question?

"Not exactly at the moment, well… I have Pinocchio. I was his conscious for a while but he's still very special to me. I watched him grow up all the way until when he became a real boy. I was so proud of him, I still am," Jiminy reflected fondly, "why the question all of a sudden?"

"Well, we're here and we have no idea where we're going, might as well." Kupopo said. He didn't doubt Jiminy if he didn't believe him, after all it was hard to trust someone that had mocked and annoyed him constantly.

Still, Jiminy was will to ease up a little from his previous tense state, though still remaining doubtful of the moogle's intentions, "So then how about you tell me about yourself?"

"What's there to say kupo?" Kupopo started in a distant sort of tone, "I've been by myself as long as I can remember. I've always had to fend for myself so it was a relief when I decided to come along with you guys."

Jiminy chose to remain silent rather than comment. Somehow though, Kupopo knew that he had been listening even with the silence. Even if it was just a little piece of information, Jiminy was glad he understood the moogle a bit more, heck a few more conversations and maybe he would be fully open to Jiminy… hopefully.

"Hey mom, it's Jiminy!" A little girl exclaimed as she and her mother walked towards them.

"I would recognise that voice instantly from anywhere," Jiminy turned around in pseudo-surprise, "Well if it isn't little Stephanie. How are you doing?"

"I'm not that little. Hmph." Stephanie pouted and crossed her arms.

"Oops, did I offend ya? I'm sorry. But you still have a long way to go ya know? You're only eight years old. Why I remember when I was a little babe and-"

"Was that a joke?" Kupopo asked.

_Well, that developing relationship lasted long. _Jiminy glared grumpily.

"Aw, I'm just kidding Jiminy. Ooh, you look so cute, what's your name?" Stephanie asked Kupopo with a smile that could potentially melt Kupopo's heart.

Jiminy had come to know that smile time and again during his previous visits to Radiant Garden along with Sora, Donald, Goofy and the others. The first time he had met the young girl was after her house had burnt down and Sora had saved her. The experience had left the girl and her mother traumatised and it surprised Jiminy standing in front of her right now to see such and innocent smile, almost as if she had not been at the edge of death several months ago.

Most of all, the experience had changed Sora in more ways than one much to the surprise of his friends. He had become more determined and focused on defeating Xehanort whilst keeping the princesses of heart safe. It had also left him with a grudge against Vanitas in particular, the one who had set fire to the house. Sora was no longer worried of whether the mirrored version of him was leading him into a trap to become another vessel of the 13 darknesses. Had it not been for his friends, Sora would've have probably gone further into Xehanort's clutches.

Meanwhile Stephanie and her mother, Colette, would take refuge at the hotel, with Kairi having asked Aerith and Yuffie to look after the two. That was the last time Jiminy had seen them, but it looked like they had found a new home since then.

"I'm Kupopo, it's nice to mee- Ah! Don't touch kupo!" Kupopo squawked and flew higher up into the air.

"So where's Sora and the others. Don't tell me you two are by yourselves?" Colette grinned upon seeing Kupopo shying away from Stephanie's touch and gave a quick wave to him.

"Well, we're kind of lost ya see. We were looking around the town and now we can't find our way back." Jiminy tipped his hat off and wiped the sweat from his head. It was certainly a hot day today, either that or Jiminy was just tired from having walked around without a rest for about an hour and a half.

"Wait, doesn't he have wings? Then why doesn't Kupopo just fly up and try to locate a memorable landmark. I'm sure you would be able to find Merlin's house that way, even if the houses do all look alike." Colette suggested as if it were obvious from the start, and it was. Jiminy had been so flustered by their journey that he had neglected to think of such a simple thing.

Instead of owning up to his mistake however he pushed the blame to Kupopo, "Why didn't you think of that?"

"Oops, forgot I had wings for a second kupo. It's so enlightening being at a human's height and talking face to face with them." Kupopo blushed.

_Liar! _Jiminy attacked mentally though both mother and daughter seemed to shrug off this minute detail.

"Well, we're done shopping anyway and we were planning on heading back in that direction so you might as well come with us," Colette's gaze shifted upwards to the ginormous castle, its giant stature and clock-like features on the wall's surface almost made it seem as if it were watching from above, "We used to be able to visit there y'know? When its previous occupier lived there, Ansem the Wise."

"Ansem? Sora met him a few times on his journey." Jiminy informed her as Stephanie dropped her hand low enough to scoop Jiminy up into her palm.

"Right, he was a wise man who enjoyed the company of others from time to time. He mainly stayed in his castle but whenever he came out he always brought these marvellous discoveries with him. I remember my husband being in awe at his work, so much so in fact that he even wanted to go on his own journeys and work alongside the man. Do you know where he is?" Colette asked with some glimmer of a hopeful smile on her face.

"We haven't seen him in a while actually. It seems like he's disappeared again." Upon hearing Jiminy's words, he could swear he had just seen a faint look of glumness on the woman's face, if only for just a second before it was replaced with a smile.

"Well Leon and the other are doing a wonderful job anyway and apparently this David Xanatos person in funding them. I hear they're going to hold a meeting tomorrow to introduce him." Colette spoke as they continued walking down the crowded street.

"Well, that seems interesting. I'm sure the others won't want to miss that." Jiminy replied. The four's conversation eventually grew past Mr. Xanatos to what Stephanie and Colette had been up to. Stephanie seemed to be very much enjoying the company of Jiminy and Kupopo making their journey a pleasant and light one altogether.

* * *

"So I've called you all here today for a very important mission." Luna began marching backwards and forwards while inspecting the individual characters closely. She enjoyed very much doing it as well, it was as if she were some sort of army general and she could help but place her hands behind her in much the same way. On the left was Pooh who seemed to be taking some sort of fascination out of swatting an annoying bee circling his head, next to him was Piglet, and then the ones she had not yet met, a bouncing Tigger and Roo, Kanga and Rabbit. Eeyore was behind her and Owl was circling in the air above them. She had already introduced herself to them and from what Pooh had told her earlier, she surmised that Tigger and Roo had been the ones he had been talking about when it came to unlocking special talent. She would have to talk to them about that later but for now, finding Eeyore's tail was high on her agenda.

"Well excuse me but I was busy planting some of my vegetables in the garden before you completely ruined them." Rabbit complained indignantly. He was half right. Luna had not personally ruined his cabbage and carrot patch but she had been the one who had told Tigger and Roo to stay outside while she talked with him and… well.

"And for that I'm very sorry Rabbit." She left out the proposition of helping him replant his veggies in return for helping her. She already had enough on her plate and couldn't afford to waste more time.

"Oh don't worry, I'll make sure Roo and Tigger pay for what they've done. There's no need to be angry with Luna." Kanga scolded the fearful Roo and Tigger who apologised with much haste.

"Anyway, as you probably have all noticed by now, Eeyore's tail is missing-"

"Woah woah woah, Eeyore's tail has gone missing? What were you doing there buddy? If it were my tail I would be keeping it nice and proper for my bouncing techni-macallits." Tigger said.

"Okay, most of us have noticed then. Anyway, I think we all need to split up and find his tail. If anyone has seen it around already though that would be very helpful." Luna said in a tone which made it sound as if she were desperate, she supposed she didn't really feel like taking up her day to find a tail when she already needed to help Pooh. When no one replied however, Luna sighed and gave a pained smile.

_Of course, it never is easy is it?_

The group soon split off in different directions to look for the missing tail. Such a small object wasn't likely to be seen right away and Eeyore having no idea about where he had last been when he had to tail was not comforting to anyone, but nonetheless they persisted. The blustery winds provided a nice fan to help keep Luna cool as she stood not having moved for a while. She wanted to formulate some type of plan in her mind to help Pooh but little came up, and then there was the problem of what would happen if they didn't find Eeyore's tail and now she was freaking out.

Luna took a deep breath and turned to Eeyore, "We might need to look for a replacement tail while we're searching. That is if it makes you comfortable Eeyore, are you up to that?"

"Sure, but where are we going to find a replacement?" Eeyore asked. Once again Luna drew a blank. In some ways she just wanted to scream out "I don't know, find one yourself!" but she hardly thought that appropriate. She tried to remember if she had anything on her that resembled a tail.

_I do… but… I can't… can I? _Luna's hands moved robotically towards her hair. Finally after some difficulty, she placed her hand on the red ribbon, hesitated, and then started to untie it.

"Here, you can use this for now. Please look after it Eeyore, it's very important to me, a friend of mine gave it to me." She said as the ribbon finally came free and he hair along with it. Placing her bangs behind her ear, she got to work quickly on pinning the ribbon onto Eeyore.

"Thanks Luna, I promise I won't lose it." Eeyore insisted. This newfound strength in his voice told her all she needed to know that he was serious about making sure he didn't lose this special gift.

With that behind them, she went off to look for Pooh who had gone off to search along with Piglet tagging behind. Her journey took her some ways away from her original location and she soon started to wonder if she wondered off farther than Pooh and Piglet had or even missed a path. Surely they would not go here, surely Eeyore wouldn't have lost his tail in here.

_And yet for whatever reason I'm still interested, _Luna mulled over the choices in her head as she gazed into the dark and thick brambles that accompanied the woods. Well at least it was welcoming, she told herself sarcastically. This had been where Owl had told her not to go but she had to take into the account the possibility of Pooh and Piglet having gone in for she had been sure that the two had gone off in this direction. _Well, looks like I'm going to be encountering Heffalumps and Woozles after all. Oh dear, this is a big mistake._ Luna gulped as she took her first steps into the forbidden woods.

Tigger and Roo had been searching, or bouncing to be more accurate, around for quite a while looking for Eeyore's tail yet not a tail could be seen anywhere in sight.

"So what do you think of Luna so far? She seems pretty cool, maybe she'll be like Sora!" Roo exclaimed giddily. He jumped into a bush only to emerge a few seconds later with nothing.

"Well she's doing everything she can to find that tail of Eeyore's. You think she'll be up to some good ole bouncing after this is done? Hoo hoo!"

Roo looked up to Tigger with a boastful smile, "Don't worry, by the time I've finished my new technique, I'll be so good that I'll be able to teach her all by myself."

It had been Tigger, who had helped the little Kangaroo to discover his own talents and he had been truly grateful to his dear friend. Pushing through wind and rain to teach him the secrets of bouncing, and while those such as Rabbit or his mother often discouraged his activities, he had found it to be more than a hobby. It was a way of life for him and not a day went by where he chose not to bounce, because it was his way of expressing happiness, the happiness of having a friend who shared his interests as well as others that each had different talents.

He could describe Tigger in so many ways, which had made him an interesting role model to look up to. His orange and black striped friend had found a positive outlook on life through bouncing. From what Tigger had told him, he was the only one of his kind and Roo had questioned several times how he was not sad about it. Of course he was sad, he would say, he was usually very open to little Roo, but that did not mean he had to stop bouncing because of it.

Meanwhile Tigger had considered Roo to be a partner in crime of sorts. There wasn't place that Tigger could go alone without Roo following behind. They had promised to do everything together and Tigger couldn't see why not as long as everything they did was fun.

"Say, what are you doing here Pooh boy?" Roo was snapped out of his thoughts upon hearing Tigger call out Pooh's name.

"Well I wondering if you know of a way to find my special talent?" Pooh said, with Piglet in tow.

A large beam spread across Tigger's face, "Well why didn't you say so?" He bounced over to Pooh and extended an arm around his shoulder.

"Um, I just did," Pooh appeared confused for a second but overall was glad that Tigger was willing to help him, as if he had any doubt. The problem was that sometimes Tigger became a little too excited, "anyway, do you have any ideas on what my special talent is."

Tigger rubbed his chin repeatedly, "Well, let's see now…" Tigger started to inspect the bear closely, in fact, maybe just a little too closely almost as if he were something to dissect. Pooh seemed to feel that he was under scrutiny and began to shift on the spot uncomfortably.

"You're kind of making me nervous Tigger." Pooh stressed while trying to avoid eye contact with Tigger.

"That's what Tiggers do best." Roo chortled.

"Now you're learning!" Tigger exclaimed playfully slapping Pooh on the back, "It's in my traits there buddy boy. I can't help it."

"Yes, well do you think you can easy up on the… traits?" Pooh had little idea what Tigger was referring to, although he assumed it was related to talents.

"I've got it!" Tigger clicked his fingers, "Have you tried flying? I remember Owl saying it was an easier way of getting to trees."

"Flying? Hmm, I never thought of that. I guess I've always wanted to be as high as the birds and flying along with the bees." Pooh liked the idea better and better as he imagined the possibilities involved, even more surprising was that his friend had been able to tell that much about him in such a short amount of time. Then again, Pooh had never been one to have complex thoughts and he knew it.

"Oh dear, something tells me this will be a bad idea." Pooh and Tigger could hear Piglet's teeth chattering wildly beside them and offered him some kind of consultation.

"Don't worry Piglet, I have a feeling that we're closer than we realise to finding my special talent," Pooh comforted, "Tigger, have you seen Luna about?"

"No, we came here right after she told us to split up. Is there something wrong?" Roo asked.

"Just that she should have met with us by now. I'm starting to get worried, what if H-Heffalumps have her?" Piglet's eye's shifted around nervously.

"Then we've gotta save her! We'll take those monstrous, beastly, foul breathed things head on if we have to, right guys?" Roo waited for a response, but none came except that of the chattering friends clinging to one another, "Guys?"

"Weeeelllllll let's not jump to conclusions just yet eh? Let's go and look for her and Eeyore's tail. Maybe she's already found it!" Tigger directed and the others followed suit immediately. With all four spread out, their search was able to cover a much larger area, however the lack of presence of Luna began to form unsettling thoughts in Pooh's mind. She had promised to be with them shortly, so the only other option was that she was lost. Pooh decided to backtrack and report his thoughts to Piglet. As he walked alongside the cliff back to their original location, he imagined for the second time flying high in the sky along with the bees and gathering honey along with them. It was a delightful thought that seemed more indulging by the second and soon enough a beam displayed heavily on his face, as if he were in a trance. This dreamy state was interrupted when a loud crack filling the air snapped him out of his thoughts and caused him to lose balance.

"Oh botheeeeer!" Pooh's voice rang out as he rolled down the hill with increasing speed. As he continued tumbling down the hill, he came into contact with a piece of laundry, possibly relating to white fabric of some sort, he couldn't really make out much in his dazed state. Even as the cloth clung to his frame tightly, he continued to roll down more and more, past the green meadows and golden honey trees and into the dark forest itself.

* * *

The forest path seemed to twist and turn as Luna was beginning to feel that she should have gone with her previous assumption: that Pooh and Piglet had not gone this way. Of course they hadn't, especially poor Piglet who almost certainly wouldn't be able to. Already she had been through several crossroads and after each one she had stopped for a while to consider turning back, but for whatever reason her fascination always got to her. Maybe it was the excitement of seeing what these Heffalumps and Woozles were, maybe they might even be Heartless or maybe they just didn't exist. Either way, now that she had been assured that the bear and his friend were not here, she made to turn back. She feared ending up lost due to her curiosity.

The ghostly wail of the wind sent shivers down her spine and the subtle movement of the darkened leaves had caught Luna off guard several times. The fiendish appearance of some of the trees sent her into a state of agitation. She suddenly felt a bit queasy and decided that now would be the best time to turn back.

_Heffalumps and Woozles, they probably don't exist anyway. _Luna tried to convince herself although the queasy feeling would not relent. In fact it was amplified by hearing a ghostly wail just then, and it wasn't from the wind either. Luna's head turned so quickly that the rest of her body was dragged along with it. Was she imagining things? No, she had definitely just heard the sound of something more human than the wind.

_There's no such things as ghosts Luna, come on don't be silly_. What was she thinking? After all she had seen in other worlds so far she still wondered how she could question what was possible and impossible. She could be almost sure that there were probably such things as ghosts, though she just hoped she didn't encounter any. The moaning came again much more loudly this time, it was getting closer and the worst part was that it seemed to be coming from the direction that Luna had come from. Summoning Dream Seeker, Luna held her ground though her finger trembled violently around the handle of the Keyblade.

_Hold your ground Luna, if it's a Heartless, I'll get the jump on him. If it's a ghost… well. _Luna went off road and hid in between the trees. Another wailing moan, definitely a lot closer this time. She noticed she had been inhaling in a little too much and exhaled deeply. She peered around the tree observing the crossroads and immediately she noticed the figure in white.

_Okay, maybe it does exist after all. Jeepers! _Luna nodded almost unconsciously while silently counting down the time until she would get the jump on him. _Now! _Luna leapt from her spot and tackled the figure to the ground.

"Oh bother." The voice groaned in pain. She knew that voice all too well. She felt all she could do was tremble as she did so once again while taking the white table cloth off to reveal Pooh bear.

Luna bit her lip in annoyance at herself, "I'm so sorry Pooh," she apologised helping the bear up. She found that she could hardly stand either, "are you okay? I thought you were a Heffalump." Maybe they didn't exist after all, and now she was annoyed that she had gotten all worried over nothing.

Pooh gave an appreciative smile, "I'm quite alright thank you very much. I'm just wondering where we are right now."

"I think we're in those woods that Owl said never to go into. I thought you and Piglet had stumbled in here lost, I guess it turns out that I was the one who was lost huh?" Luna chuckled brightly.

"Well Piglet and I and Tigger and Roo were all searching for you," Pooh informed her, "we thought you were lost."

"You were all looking for me? I appreciate that, thank you." She felt as if tears were about to well up in her eyes but did her best to supress them. The truth was that she had felt quite scared going into the woods because it had reminded her of the maze back in Wonderland where she had been chased by the Bandersnatch. It had never been something she had gotten used to and the thought of it happening again had scared her because she had been unable to do anything in the situation. Actually, she supposed the fear had actually started back in one of her first dreams where she had been chased by a rhino with her friend. Pooh and his friends' actions to help her was moving but now she had to focus on returning the favour.

"Well, it's kind of creepy here don't ya think?" She took hold of the bear's paw and grinned at him, "What do you say to getting out of here?"

* * *

**Finally back after an annoying period of writer's block. Annoying, isn't it? Not really much to say about this chapter though it probably is obvious by now that Stephanie and Colette will play as big role as the arc develops. Also more from Rinoa and Squa- sorry Leon coming next chapter as well as the finale of the 100 Acre Woods and back to non-filler. **


	47. Flight of the Bumblebee

**So here's the final chapter for the 100 Acre Wood world and soon enough Radiant Garden will also come to an end and the action will begin again. I thinking one more chapter should do it.**

* * *

Chapter 47

Flight of the Bumblebee

There were few moments for Jiminy where he fully appreciated his small stature. When travelling with Sora, he had always had little choice but to sit on the boy's shoulder and observe the world along with him, taking down everything he could in his journal. He had little free reign to explore by himself seeing as the worlds were large and dangerous places.

That's not to say that Jiminy was extremely bothered by it. He had acted on part as his friend Pinocchio's conscience before, always following the lad and trying to make sure he didn't get into trouble and now he was doing the same with Sora, Donald, Goofy and now Luna.

While he wished he could stand among his friends without having to be carried about, he was proud of his Cricket origins and he wouldn't give them away for anything. Besides, there were plenty of advantages to his disadvantage. As he looked around Stephanie and Colette's house he could already see one of them. The sheer scale of everything was impressive to say the least, with Jiminy feeling as if he were in a world of his own and on his own adventure. His perception of the world around was probably much different than Kupopo's who seemed to enjoy flying around the house. Stephanie placed little Jiminy down on a table alongside a bunch of porcelain dolls lined up against the wall which Jiminy had to admit all looked rather life-like and attractive.

Walking over to one of them, Jiminy straightened his bow tie and cleared his throat, "Why hello there young ma'am, Jiminy Cricket's the name. I think you'd be interested in meeting a nice fella I know, his name's Geppetto and he has a few dolls of his own that he's made. It's a warm and cosy workshop and there's even a boy there that I know wouldn't mind seeing you, I know you'd like it," Jiminy practiced his curtseying before looking up in mock anger, "No? Okay then, fine. You could have just told me though instead of giving me the silent treatment."

"Hehe, you're funny Jiminy." Stephanie complimented with a giggle.

"So we're pretty close to Merlin's house from here right?" Kupopo asked as Colette came back from placing the groceries in the kitchen.

"Don't worry about a thing. I just wanted to drop these off first, we'll head there now," She paused for a second, with her eyes looking across the hallway before finally settling on Jiminy. She seemed calmer from the last time he had seen her, much unlike her more energetic self of their last visit. She had seen her home destroyed by the boy known as Vanitas and most of her possessions along with it. Her only source of comfort resided in her daughter, and she knew without a doubt in her mind that if Steph had not been by her in those dark times, she probably would not have been able to go on.

"I've never forgotten what Sora and his friends did for us back then. I've been looking for you just to tell you guys that I appreciate what you did for the both us. I don't know what I'd do if Steph wasn't by my side."

"It was no problem. I'm sure you'll probably tell this to Sora and the others when you meet them again but if I were him; I would say that I was just following my heart, so it's no big deal." Jiminy responded.

"That sounds exactly like something Sora would say," Stephanie grinned as she picked Jiminy up again, "Ready to go Mr. Jiminy?"

"Why of course _Miss_ Stephanie. Merlin's house, here we come!"

* * *

As Luna rested her head against the large oak tree she wondered once again if she would ever find a way back. Surely much time had passed since she had arrived in this world and she wondered of the panic that would ensue from the others. And now she was here sitting against a tree and she couldn't deny that she wanted to stay here just a little bit longer.

It was a calm and peaceful place, much different from worlds filled with Heartless and other such evils. If that wasn't reason enough to convince her to stay here for a while longer then she didn't know what was. Maybe when she returned, she could bring Sora and the other to this place along with her.

After exiting the dreadful forest, Luna and Pooh joined up with Tigger, Roo and Piglet before continuing on with their search of Eeyore's tail. Luna had then distanced herself from the gang to investigate the meadow where she had first met Eeyore. Maybe it had been in one of the bushes, though if that was the case then it would take some time to find it. So here she was in the meadow and she had happened to come across the only tree in the field so she decided to take a quick rest.

"Luna, come quick!" As she was about to close her eyes, Rabbit's voice snapped her out of her dreamy state.

"I was just about to take a nap Rabbit, what is it?" Luna lifted herself up with support of the tree behind her.

"It's Pooh, he's going to try and fly. You have to stop him before he hurts himself." This news alarmed Luna who sprang from clinging to the tree to being more active than ever.

"Lead on." She spoke briskly. As if it couldn't get any worse, Pooh had decided to try flying as a special talent? She remembered when Sora had done it back in the Dalmatians' world though he had claimed that to be gliding and not flying, furthermore he had only been able to do it with what he had described as 'fairy dust' whatever that meant.

As she and Rabbit continued on, they looked up to see the sky growing darker and the clouds gathering in a way that only meant that rain was on the way, and possibly worse.

_Well there goes my paradise. _Luna thought as the first rain droplets began to fall from the sky and hit the now darker shade of grass.

"Pooh!" She called out his name as the two of them neared Piglet, Tigger, Roo, Eeyore, Owl and Kanga's location. Up ahead was Pooh standing at the edge of the cliff attached to a glider and prepared to take flight, "What are you doing?"

"I'm glad you're here to see me take off like a bee Luna. I'm just finishing of my stoutness exercises then soon I will be flying along with them as well as the birds. Care to join me?"

Luna dismissed this, "Listen, you can't fly!"

"What? I can't hear you over this rather loud wind and rain!" Pooh pressed his paw against his ear for clarification.

"I believe she said that you can't fly dear!" Kanga repeated.

Pooh seemed to ignore the warning though clearly convinced that he could do it, "But maybe it's my special talent? I won't know until I try."

"Well that's true," Luna accepted, "But there are just some things which you can't do, and in all this rain? And just how did you get that glider anyway?"

"Oh, I just gathered some materials from my house with the help of Gopher and Piglet." Pooh told her.

"Resourceful," She commented, "but that really isn't going to make a difference. Please Pooh, come here, we have all the time in the world to think about this and I'm sure we'll get there eventually but you have to be patient."

Pooh sighed disappointedly. Luna could understand what it was like to be so close to figuring something out and then having it torn away from her and she didn't want to steal the bear's hopes and dreams from him but she knew this wasn't the correct way to do things. Pooh took a step towards them and Luna slowly walked up to comfort him. She could see that he was lost from how he looked off into the drenched sky.

As she was about to take his hand in hers, a sudden gust of wind broke out causing her to close her eyes and shield her face from the wind with her arms. When she was to next open them, she would find Pooh far away from her, floating in the air.

"I can't believe it, I'm flying! I'm actually flying!" Pooh exclaimed as he flew through the air with his glider above him. He then remarked playfully, "Piglet, you're even smaller from up here."

"He's flying?"

"He's flying!"

"He's not flying, he's gliding," Luna corrected both Rabbit and Owl, "and he's going to crash." Luna ignored the cries of the others as she slid down the muddy hill in hopes of getting to Pooh quickly. She paid little attention to her new clothes provided to her by the twins now being soiled with dirt, though she would have had little time to care anyway as she tripped on her dress and rolled down the muddy hill.

_Palom and Porom are so going to kill me. _Luna expanded little on the thought however as she considered Pooh to be the priority at the moment. The first signs of lightning struck followed by the roaring thunder as she pushed on.

"Come on Luna! Were all those days training with Phil a waste of time?" She challenged herself. The wind did little to work in her favour, acting against her and slowing her speed rather than helping, but she wasn't about to let nature beat her that easily. Back in Thebes, the sun had been her opponent and now it seemed like it had changed to the perilous wind and rain.

"Luna, help!" Pooh's voice seemed so far away even though he was being dragged backwards and forwards by the wind. Another strike of lightning seemed to aim point blank for Pooh resulting in destroying his glider and sending him hurtling into a nearby tree before slipping down from branch to branch. Luna ran as fast as her legs could carry her before leaping and catching Pooh before he hit his head on the ground. She landed on the ground with Pooh on top of her, both of them quite dizzy.

Luna eventually shook it off and looked over at Pooh, "Are you alright?"

"I think I lost something." Pooh groaned.

"Don't worry Pooh, you tried but it just wasn't your thing. There'll be other chances."

"No, not that. I think I've lost my appetite, I might need some more honey."

This caused Luna to laugh out loud, and she was glad the thunder was dulling the noise because she figured that if she laughed anymore she might end up sounding like a hyena, "Silly old bear."

"Though I'm not exactly sure what to do from here either. I thought I was so close, for a second I was flying around like a bee, and then I lost my wings. Maybe I don't have a special talent." Pooh concluded.

"That's not true. I think it's been right under your nose this whole time now that I think about it. A talent is only as special as a person believes it to be. For you, you've made wonderful friends because you have a lovable personality, that's what makes you special. You don't need to look for a special talent Pooh, it was with you all along." Luna said.

"So what you're saying is that as long as I am who I am, I already have a special talent?" Pooh replied.

Luna nodded, "Exactly. I mean even your curiosity in itself is something special. By no means am I telling you not to try anything new, but just don't try too hard for the sake of trying to change yourself, okay? You're perfect as you already are."

"Thank you Luna, you've been a wonderful friend to me. I guess I still do have some wings of my own then." Pooh was about to say something else when he tummy rumbled violently.

"At least it's not the thunder. I think this is something we can handle, come on." Luna smiled helping Pooh up. As she did, something caught her eye which had fallen to the floor. It was a tail with a pink bow wrapped onto it. How convenient it would be if this was tail Eeyore had been looking for.

The two made their way back to the others both completely drenched in rain. Funnily enough, the rain soon came to a halt and the darkened clouds gave way for a beautiful evening sky, the velocity of the wind had also reduced to a mere light breeze.

_How convenient...again. _Luna shrugged it off however not allowing the coincidental bad weather to ruin her cheerful mood. Eventually the two got up the hill and were met by some happy faces.

"Why you're a mess dear." Kanga noted eyeing the girl up and down after the group had their reunion.

"Oh… yeah, I'll deal with the consequences later I guess," Luna disregarded her dishevelled appearance and walked over to Eeyore before handing over the tail to him, "I suppose this is yours?"

"You've found it, you really found it. Thank you Luna, I know she's not much, but she is my tail." Eeyore replied. Luna did a quick switch replacing the tail with her ribbon and then tying the ribbon back around her hair.

"You can thank Pooh for that actually," She said as she pulled the ribbon into a knot, "if he hadn't landed where it was, we never would have found it."

"Thank you Pooh bear, even if it was accidental." Eeyore said glumly.

_Glum as always, even when your tail is found. At least give a whoop of appreciation or something! _Luna shook her head wondering if Eeyore was ever happy. Perhaps that would be her next task, getting him to laugh, _then again_, she supposed as she turned to Rabbit, _with some things you just can't change. _

"Now Rabbit, about that vegetable patch of yours, did you need some help with that?"

Rabbit seemed surprised at this, "No no my dear, I couldn't have you do that after what you've done for us."

Luna shrugged and placed her hand on Rabbit's shoulder, "No sweat. I made a promise and I intend to keep it. Besides, what's one garden patch compared to fighting through wind and rain to save a friend?"

* * *

After a hardworking and collaborative effort, Luna and the others had finally finished putting the finishing touches on Rabbit's garden after Tigger and Roo had damaged his patches. Now she sat down on starry hill in the dark along with her new friends while looking up at the stars.

"What do you think those are Luna? Those stars?" Tigger asked.

"You sure you want to know?" Luna craned her neck to the side, "some secrets are just best kept that, a secret. I wouldn't want to ruin your imagination. What do you guys think they are?"

"A gazillion other Tiggers bouncing around just like me." Tigger proclaimed ecstatically.

"And maybe there are others like me as well!" Roo added in.

"I certainly wouldn't be surprised." Luna told them in a subtle way that hinted that there were other worlds out there.

"And maybe there are multiple smackerals of honey waiting for me up there." Pooh, now completely stuffed after Rabbit had provided his with jars upon jars of honey (and much to the rabbit's reluctance), now licked his lips as he envisioned himself jumping into a golden pool of the stuff.

"And maybe there are other types of vegetables out there waiting to be discovered." Rabbit said. It seemed everyone was getting more eager by the second.

"Just how far do you think those stars are from here anyway Luna?" Piglet asked.

"They vary in range. Possibly millions, even billions of miles away," Luna said as she looked up to the stars, "I'll tell you something though. Up there, there are lots of other people just like me and you, some of them completely unaware of the other worlds around them. When I leave here, I'll be on one of those stars and that's probably also where your other friend is. So, when I leave all you have to do is look up to the stars and you'll just know that I'm somewhere among them."

"I wish we could see you all the time though." Eeyore said and the others nodded in agreement.

"I'm sorry, but I can't. I have something I've lost too and I can't stop searching until I've found it. I know that I'll find it someday though, I have good friends to help me along the way," Luna paused for a short while before continuing, "You know, your friends are always closer than you think. You just need to know where to look." Luna said and smiled as Pooh pointed to his chest.

"Right here?" He asked with a similar smile.

"Right there."

A voice from afar caused Luna and the others to turn their attention from each other to down the hill and near the exit.

"Sora!" Luna stood up almost instantly causing Pooh to jump and fall onto his back. The spiky haired brunette waved from afar before beginning his run up towards them. She had probably thought this several other times over the past month but Luna had never been so happy to see him, there was just something comforting and heart-warming about seeing her friend at the most unexpected of times though she really had no idea as to why. When the others called out his name, Luna's mouth dropped in surprise, "You know Sora?"

"He's the other friend we were talking about. I didn't know that you were friends with him as well though. That's just crazy!" Tigger said.

_You can say that again. _Once Sora had reached the top, Luna greeted him with a thumbs up to which he so gladly returned.

"How did you find me? I'm not exactly sure where I even am right now?" She quizzed in a puzzled tone.

"You don't know? Heh heh, you're gonna laugh when you hear this then," Sora leaned in and whispered into her ear, "You're inside a book."

Luna remained still for quite some time; she also figured she would have the best poker face when it came to these things. So the whole time she had been here, she had never realised that she was in a book. She was sure it somehow made sense given that her opening the book on the desk had been the last thing she had recalled before she had woken up here, but a magic book capable of transporting a person to another world?

"_Merlin_…" She muttered the name bitterly though it was clear to Sora that she was just acting. She wouldn't have met her new friends, if not for it having been the only book to lie about.

"Well I'm not surprised you went for it. It was the only book lying about anyway." Sora's voice reflected her thoughts. Sora walked past her and knelt down next to Pooh, "How are you doing Pooh?"

"I feel better than ever actually, Sora. I'm just glad I could see you again." The bear said walking into Sora's arms where they both exchanged a hug. Luna looked on in merriment. There was just something that felt so exuberant gained from watching the two friends reunite, like it was a scene so close and dear to her heart. Had she experienced it before? The worst part of her dreams sometimes were the emotions that she experienced, be they happy or sad, she found that she couldn't relate to them no matter how much she tried because she didn't know the context behind them.

"How about we stay here for just a little longer? I'm not sure I want to leave just yet." Luna yawned out, choosing to put aside her hard to decipher dreams for now.

"Someone seems like they're tired. Had a tough day?" Sora asked examining her muddy dress.

"The toughest." Luna stuck her tongue out at him before rubbing her eyes.

* * *

The next day was a demanding yet exciting one for the group. After spending some extra time at Luna's request in the hundred acre woods, both she and Sora had retired late into the night to their bedrooms in the hotel. It had barely felt as if Sora had gotten any sleep when he heard a knock on door. With his eyes still closed, he moved his hand around until he could feel the shape of the lamp in his palm before moving up and finding the switch. He flicked it on before stupidly rolling of the bed as opposed to wanting to just get up.

Sora swore silently and grumbled for a while until he heard a second set of raps on the door.

_If you keep that up you may just wake up the whole hotel. _Sora grunted stumbling over to the door. Standing in the hallway after Sora opened the door was Kairi, dressed in what Sora had to admit were cute baby blue pajamas, though the yellow duck on her shirt seemed to be something that would be embarrassing to wear up front.

"Have you no respect for a boy who needs his sleep?" Sora grimaced having yet to fully wake up. He allowed Kairi into his room and closed the door behind her. Looking up at the clock, he could help but express a loud sigh at the time, "It's seven in the morning…"

"And not a moment too soon either. I need to talk to you about Yeul."

This seemed to catch Sora's attention. He motioned for the bed for her to sit down on. Kairi seemed to hesitate and blush for a second before complying with Sora's kind gesture for a seat. Even Sora had to admit that this was pretty awkward, he and Kairi had not spent much time alone since the Destiny Islands had been destroyed.

"So you talked with Yeul? I'm guessing about her powers?" Rather than taking position besides her, Sora walked over to the window and peered outside. There didn't seem to be as much commotion though he knew that would all change come lunch. The only things that were noteworthy were that the construction machines had begun their daily routine once again.

"Of course. There's something more mysterious going on than we previously thought," Kairi began, "Yeul was rather evasive in answering some of my questions. So, for example, if I asked her where she originally came from, she would either divert the question away from her back to me or indirectly answer. I'm sure she knows that I know that she's hiding things but she won't give that info up so easily and I'm not sure if it's because she doesn't trust me or-"

"That can't be it. I'm sure she does trust you, but… and this might just be me but when I was around I got the feeling that she was… scared of something." Sora discussed his opinion, one he had had when travelling with Yeul on the Gummi Ship.

"No, I get the same feeling too. Maybe we should both try talking to her again. Two might be a better option than one in terms of getting information from her." Kairi suggested.

"No, she's our friend. We're not going to turn her visit into some kind of interrogation torture," Sora replied not wanting their guest to feel under any kind of pressure, "did she say anything about her seer powers?"

"On that end I had more luck!" She announced gleefully. Her smile was always one Sora could think about when he was depressed. It always managed to cheer him right up and it gave him the reason to keep on fighting, "So this special ability of hers allows her to make prophecies of the future. They can be pretty much about anything though and they can happen at any time. She also says she has some knowledge of previous seers before her, almost like reincarnation."

"Well I've heard about most of that from her except for the reincarnation part. I can't imagine how it must feel for her. Receiving a vision at any time and it also could be anything that it shows her. It must be painful." Sora said.

"Right, I'm not surprised if that's why she's seems so secretive and distant most of the time. She probably thinks that she's the only one that can deal with them. Like a burden she has to endure alone," Kairi hand wrapped around the bed sheets tightly in regret for trying to push the silver haired girl into giving out information, "We have to try and help her, somehow."

"Yeah, but how? If she doesn't open up, we can't help," Sora's simple answer was not one Kairi needed to hear and Sora could tell that Kairi was clearly concerned about her new friend, but for the time being there really wasn't anything they could do. And yet, he tried to rectify his answer if only to quell her sadness, "Still, we should do our best to help her, even with the limited information we have. If we show her that she doesn't have to go it alone then that will be enough. For now, I guess we should just spend time with her and show her around. She'll open up when she's ready."

Kairi nodded in understanding before deciding to change the topic to one which had been on both their minds, "We haven't talked like this in a while huh?"

"No, we haven't. Uh, when was the last time again?" Sora asked playing the dumb card. Kairi grabbed the nearest pillow in her reach and threw it at Sora who dodged in time, "I'm just kidding Kairi."

"That was obvious," Kairi giggled before getting up and moving over to the bedside table where the rubix cube shaped puzzle lay, "The last time you, me and Riku were together, we were sitting on the paopu tree and looking up at the sunset." She said as she fumbled around with the puzzle box.

"Yeah, I remember. We were celebrating your anniversary. The day you came to the islands and you made some really good Sea Salt Ice Cream as well," Sora watched hopefully as Kairi rotated the puzzle in her hand. He was hoping that it may possibly react differently to her touch considering that she was a princess of heart, but nothing happened, "Actually that reminds me. I made a promise to Luna that when we got back here we'd hold a competition to see who can make the best Ice Cream. You up for it?"

Kairi blinked at the suggestion, but the more she processed the idea in her mind, the more she started to enjoy it, "You know I'm going to win pretty easily right?"

"There's a difference between thinking and knowing Kairi. How about making Scrooge and the other three the judges?"

Kairi nodded, "That sounds like a great idea. Also, what about some judges of my own? I pick, Stephanie and her mother."

_Stephanie… Right, I still have that photograph that we dug up from yesterday, _Sora remembered, his eyes shifting to the top drawer where the picture was hidden, _and boy those Gullwings were not pleased at all. _

"Why them? Is this all a part of your elaborate plan to poison them with the horrible tasting Ice Cream that you'll make?" Sora gave a toothy grin.

Kairi rolled her eyes before grabbing a pillow again and started her slow walk over to Sora.

"Wait, Kairi? Kairi stop, what are you doing with that pillow? NO!"

The early morning passed by quickly with Sora munching into his favourite, bacon and eggs with waffles, while getting into a heated discussion with Luna about comic books at Merlin's home. All of the gang except for Leon and Cloud were seated around the table, with the house seeming less manoeuvrable than ever before.

"You really have to read some of the comic books back at my place. Maybe if you get to see the islands, I'll have you read some of them." He mumbled in between stuffing his face with waffles. He looked over to Yeul who was sitting between Donald and Goofy and listening intently, "I'll let you read them too."

"Are you sure they're okay though? I don't imagine staring at a bunch of pictures would be that interesting." Luna asked. She remembered reading comics just as much as she remembered most things about her life, which was not at all, though the way Sora had described them had intrigued her.

"Okay? They're more than okay. It's what's in the pictures that count. From the action to the story, you can pretty much visualise everything in your mind like it's a moving picture. The superhero ones are the best though…" Sora was about to continue but as he looked down the table he met Kairi's silent yet deadly glare and gulped.

"Well if you say so. You know, you sound just like a kid when you're talking about them." Luna pointed out.

Sora chose to say nothing and instead continued to chow down until his plate was empty. Rather, it was Goofy, with his soon to be embarrassed son beside him, who joined in on the conversation.

"Well I'll be, I didn't know you enjoyed comics as well Sora! You know Maxie reads them all the time too!"

"Dad, shut up," Max said through gritted teeth though he doubted his father could hear him, "and besides why would I want to read comics anyway, that's such a kiddie thing. I'm all about that studying. Study study study, yup." He finished off with an unconvincing and questionable laugh though as usual Goofy did not seem to pick up on this thinking he genuinely meant it.

"I resent that! Say that again," Sora defended slamming his hands on the table, a surprising feat which caused everyone around the table to jump about a few inches high from their seat, "Not all comics are for kids!"

"Talk about overreacting." Kairi groaned. Sora, after staring daggers at Max, apologised and went back to eating as if nothing had ever happened in the first place.

Each and every head of the table turned quickly as the door opened. They had all heard of his arrival, but none of them had seen has face until now. Walking in first was Leon, followed by a tall and broad shouldered man in a casual blue suit. His honey brown eyes seemed to burn with passion and desire, and Sora could feel the man's dominating presence take hold of the air. His confident and intellectual eyes scanned the entire table before landing on Sora.

As the two stared at each other, Sora almost felt as if he was having a mental battle with the man. Was he trying to figure Sora out? Then he would be the one to strike first. All Sora could do was glare the man down as if he were trying to melt him, because his opponent was doing the same to him. What else could Sora do? He didn't know if he trusted the man yet or not, it was simply an act of defiance upon his part.

"I'd all like you to meet David Xanatos, the man who put so much of his own money behind our restoration project." Leon introduced, with Xanatos lifting his eyes away from Sora finally to give a friendly smile to all of them. Sora never let down his defences however. Why did he feel so uncomfortable by this man being here?

"It's so wonderful to meet you all. I've heard all about you from Leon. I'll try in any way I can to provide assistance. My own world was attacked by the Heartless so if there were even the slightest chance of saving another world from their wrath I'd take it, and I'm doing so now." Xanatos announced.

Sora's gaze travelled across the table and stopped at the clearly sceptic Riku. The silver haired teen had hardly even tried to hide his distrust for the man and it clearly showed.

_Well he's not alone. _Sora thought though it seemed as if everyone else had been taken to paradise just by the man's heart-warming disposition.

"Hello Mr. Xanatos. It's an honor to meet you," Aerith was first to get up from the table and walked over to shake Xanatos' hand, "I heard you have a field which specialises in herbs and medical cures. I was interested when I heard about it and I was wondering-"

"Well she didn't waste any time now did she?" Donald, who had been watching the scene play out on Sora's left, whispered to him whilst snickering.

"Well she's always wanted to find a way to protect her friends. Can't blame her for jumping at the chance." Sora replied similarly in a low voice. He knew that in particular, Aerith wanted to protect Cloud, who had almost fallen to his dark side, a man of extraordinary power, though with the help of his friends, Riku especially who knew what it was like to have a dark cloud hovering over him, Cloud had come to accept the darkness and had managed to defeat the master swordsman.

The successful purge of his dark side had apparently not effected Cloud's mood however, as he the blond found himself spending more and more time away from his friends and by himself. Most of all who were worried was Tifa and Aerith, who refused to give up on their friend. Sora knew that even if he got rid of the darkness ebbing away at his heart, the journey to repairing the damage would not be immediate nor would it be quick. He was confident that Cloud would make the right decisions in the end given the appropriate alone time.

But Xanatos' smile seemed genuine as he promised the flower girl, "But of course, you're always welcome to visit. Of course, there is the matter of setting the building up first and then hiring the man power required."

"And that's where I come in, the great ninja Yuffie! Just leave it to me. I'll make sure this town is in tip top shape."

"Oh I have no doubt that you will," Xanatos laughed. His attention turned to Sora and the others and he blinked repeatedly in surprise for a few seconds, "Could it be that you are the Keyblade wielders that I've heard so much about?"

Riku stood up still wary of the man and wanting to challenge him, "That depends, how much have you heard about us?"

"Riku!" Kairi urged him to rethink his attitude, but Riku wasn't one to back down so easily.

"No, it's quite alright. I've heard about you all from Leon, about how much you've helped out in the town and how you defeated one of the most powerful Keyblade Wielders and saved the worlds." As Xanatos walked over to Riku, Sora could feel another competitive battle going on. Riku's eyes had never left Xanatos' face for a second, while the latter had been measuring the former with intensity.

"Riku," The teen eventually said holding out his hand for Xanatos to shake, though if Sora didn't know any better he would guess that Riku had taken this as an opportunity to stare Xanatos right in the face, "over there are Kairi and Sora. And our newest Keyblade wielder, Luna." He pointed to each one as he said their names.

_Again, what is with this guy and his constant observations? _As Xanatos fixated his gaze on Luna, Sora intentionally stood up blocking him from doing so.

"Nice to meet you. I'm looking forward to helping you restore the town. But if you don't mind, I'll step out for a bit. It's kind of getting a bit cramped up in here and I'm sure you and Leon have important things to discuss. Wouldn't want to hold you up and all that, you coming Luna?"

Luna was nonplussed at Sora's request, "Where to exactly?"

"You know. That place you mentioned just before we finished breakfast? You did want to go there." Sora refused to give a hint to his intentions for fear of being caught out. Instead he flashed Xanatos a look.

"I… did? OH! I did! Oops, sorry we have to get going but Chip and Dale asked for help on the Gummi Ship and we promised to help out." She lied. Well, at least it was more of a clarification than 'that place', and it seemed to work as well because Xanatos' hardened complexion now softened once she had supported Sora's claims.

"Of course. You're welcome to go. I'm just a guest after all." Xanatos gave a goofy smirk. Luna excused herself from the table and was about to take her hands off the table before looking over at the agitated Yeul.

"Want to come with, Yeul?" She asked hoping to bond with her new friend some more.

Yeul nodded and got out her seat, "Excuse me sir." She said quietly as she brushed past Xanatos and followed the other two outside.

Sora continued to walk until they were a good distance away before answering Luna's puzzling look, "It was too stuffy in there. And besides, I don't trust him."

"Yeah, I thought it was something like that with the way you and Riku kept staring at him. Look, maybe I'm not exactly the best person to be saying this but don't you think you're getting a little ahead of yourselves here? He honestly did seem like he wanted to help."

"Well Riku would certainly know a thing or two about that. A long time ago Maleficent pulled a similar caring act on him. I don't know, he seems okay but it's just something about him that I really don't trust." Sora said thoughtfully.

"Well maybe if you hadn't been trying to turn him into a rabbit the whole time you might have different opinions," Luna laughed, "I saw the way you were both staring at each other. Aw, maybe it's love?"

Her cooing resulted in Sora feigning throwing up, "Urgh, as if. You keep your twisted fantasies to yourself thanks. If you haven't realised, we have another lady in the vicinity."

"Ever the gentleman, are we Sora? That is, if you're not stuffing your face with food anyway." Luna shot back.

The usually reserved and quiet Yeul soon spoke out, "I don't exactly trust him either. I'm not sure why exactly but… forget what I said, maybe it's just me being silly."

Sora shook his head, "No its okay Yeul, three of us having the same opinion can't be just a coincidence. Come on Luna, when the seer agrees you know that you're on the right track."

"I didn't know I had to pick sides. Okay, how about we stay cautious for now and keep this between ourselves for now?" She suggested after some deliberation.

"Sounds good to me," Sora answered. He wasn't yet ready to head back inside, and there was no limitations to what they could do right now, so what would be the best course of action to take?

"I know!" His loud outburst caused Luna and Yeul to jump in shock, "How 'bout we go visit Stephanie? We have to tell her about the Ice Cream competition and see if she's interested in being a judge anyways right?"

"Right. I can't wait to see Steph and her mother again. I wonder how they're doing." Luna beamed clasping her hands together.

_Yeah, and I need to give them a certain present from the past as well. _Sora placed his hand against his pocket before looking up.

"Do you even know where her house is?" Sora asked as the excited Luna took the lead.

"Haha, why of course I do silly, but you might want to still direct me… just for confirmation." She hid her embarrassment well and stepped back a few to allow Sora to take the lead.


End file.
